By ALANA MITCHELSON
CARDINIA Shire Council officers have warned residents to be wary of the new national Life Saving Stickers campaign which aims to raise awareness and reduce pedestrian fatalities and injuries.
The Australian Road Safety Federation (ARSF) initiative involves attaching the life-sized stickers of children stepping towards the road onto rubbish wheelie bins.
When the bins are placed near a kerb the images provide a strong visual warning for motorists to drive cautiously.
In the past four years there have been 25 incidents on Cardinia roads involving a pedestrian.
While none have been fatal, VicRoads figures show that more than 40 per cent of accidents involving pedestrians in Cardinia have resulted in serious injuries with the Princes Highway intersections at Pakenham Road and McGregor Road identified as problem areas.
On a national scale, Australia is on track this year to equal the number of pedestrian fatalities recorded in 2015 which grew for the third consecutive year.
The sticker images have been created based on research findings that signs depicting motion triggered faster reaction times and “increased vigilance” among drivers.
But Cardinia shire senior traffic engineer Nicholas Charrett was hesitant to advocate for the national campaign and recommended that residents be cautious.
“Although the council is a strong advocate for road safety initiatives, some concerns have been raised regarding this particular initiative. Council would not be encouraging residents to participate at this stage,” Mr Charrett said.
“The council would not encourage the positioning of wheeled bins for collection in the roadway as depicted in the photo. This presents a serious potential safety issue and possible difficulties with collection.
“The council trialled the application of a yellow and black sticker to residents’ bins in four residential streets across the shire in 2015.
“These stickers displayed the words ‘50 in my street’ and were intended to raise driver awareness.
“The trial showed no noticeable impact on driver behaviour and our results were consistent with that of other municipalities who have undertaken similar trials in the past.”
ARSF CEO Russell White said some councils were buying the stickers in bulk to make them available to residents.
“Between January and May this year, 67 pedestrians were killed on Australian roads. If trends continue the number could reach or even exceed last year’s number of 165,” he said.
“If someone is exceeding the speed limit, we hope these stickers will prompt them to immediately slow down.
“Even small changes in vehicle speed can have a dramatic impact on stopping distances.”
Mr White said that of the 67 pedestrians killed this year, seven were under the age of 16.
“Our research tells us that for every fatality there is between 20 and 30 injuries,” Mr White said.
“With the impact on families and friends, that’s thousands of lives shattered every year.”
For more information about Life Saving Stickers, visit www.australianroadsafetyfoundation.com.
