This National Road Safety Week (NRSW) we would like to acknowledge and extend our gratitude to everyone that has made the development of the new pedestrian crossing on Ellen Street possible.
National Road Safety Week is an annual initiative from the Safer Australian Roads and Highways (SARAH) Group, partnering road safety organisations and Government.
The week highlights the impact of road trauma and ways to reduce it.
Every year, approximately 1200 people are killed and another 44,000 are seriously injured on Australian roads.
Traffic injury is the biggest killer of Australian children under 15 and the second-biggest killer of all Australians aged between 15 and 24.
These numbers are growing every year but are preventable if we all choose to prioritise road safety in our community, which is why this project is so beneficial.
They say it takes a village to raise a child, which is certainly true of this project.
The issue was first raised by former Deputy Principal Mr Kevin Griffiths, who grew increasingly concerned about the safety of the crossing during his daily expedition to monitor the mass exodus from the College grounds as part of his role.
Mr Griffiths retired at the end of 2021 and we are so grateful for all of his work and the genuine care he consistently exhibited throughout his tenure at the College.
As student wellbeing is one of our core values at JCCA and due to the broad range of suburbs our students call home, Deputy Principal of Arts and Innovation Judy Hendrickse said the school was becoming increasingly concerned about the safety of students crossing the road.
“Our students travel from throughout the metropolitan area, from Yanchep in the north to Mandurah in the south,” Ms Hendrickse said.
“We’re a very unique college, with close to 1400 of our students relying on public transport to get to and from school.
“It’s very pleasing that both the government and the City of Fremantle are taking steps in regards to road safety for our students.”
The crossing was installed by the City of Fremantle using funding provided by the state government.
Fremantle Mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge said the City was delighted to help in making the trip to school safer.
“Every year the City’s engineering team completes dozens of projects to make getting around Fremantle safer and easier, from road resurfacing to new bike lanes and fixing footpaths,” Mayor Fitzhardinge said.
“We greatly appreciate the support from the state government and our local member Simone McGurk to install this new crossing for John Curtin College.”
Fremantle MLA Simone McGurk said it was fantastic to see the much-needed crossing delivered.
“The previous Principal of John Curtin College of the Arts, Mitch Mackay, raised pedestrian safety concerns with me, so I was happy to support the Ellen Street crossing scheme as one of my 2021 election commitments,” Ms McGurk said.
We would also like to thank you, our community, for your patience during the works and ongoing commitment to road safety.
Together we can choose to drive so others survive, take the pledge on the NRSW website today!
