MORE than 100 people have signed a petition calling for a pedestrian crossing at the intersection of Forrest Road and Carrington street in Hamilton Hill.

Currently there’s nothing to  help pedestrians cross, and they have to rely on drivers following the little-followed rule of giving way.

Ana Bodlovich launched the petition and has scored a site visit later this month with council’s engineers who’ll have to follow Main Road’s traffic signals policy. 

It uses a ‘benefit-cost ratio’ in conjunction with ‘killed or seriously injured’ data to calculate and prioritise spending, but Ms Bodlovich worries this data doesn’t take into consideration people who’ve given up trying to cross and now jump in their cars instead.

Ms Bodlovich has also noted the increasing number of crashes on the strip between the intersection and Rockingham Road.

“We believe that in part, this relates to the unsafe Carrington/Forrest road intersection,” she said.

“By designing a safe crossing for pedestrians and other vulnerable road users at the intersection, the vehicle traffic flow going from the intersection could be managed more safely.”

Cockburn Councillor Phoebe Corke said she has also asked the city to investigate whether a pedestrian crossing could be installed slightly further north on Carrington Street should Main Roads refuse to upgrade the intersection. 

“I know that pedestrians and cyclists, including school children and elderly visitors to the Aegis facility, would prefer safety measures to be taken at the actual intersection but this might be an affordable interim solution if the modelling does not meet Main Roads’ criteria for an upgrade at this time,” she said. 

A spokesperson for Cockburn council said if the traffic signal modelling received approval from Main Roads, the city would  need to apply for state funding in 2021/22 financial year for funding in 2022/23 as indicative costs will be around $1 million. 

by KRISTEN RICCIARDI