Roundabout making Nedlands ‘safer’

By  Sasha Spiers, 15 April, 2011

The construction of a roundabout on Hampden road is creating safer roads for Nedlands residents and businesses, say locals.

The city of Nedlands acting manager of engineering services, Wayne Mo, said the roundabout is being built as a part of the Western Australian government’s Black Spot Program.

The Black Spot Program was created to reduce the number of traffic incidents on roads ‘with proven crash history’ by providing ‘cost-effective treatment of hazardous road locations’.

According to the Western Australian government’s 2009 Road traffic fatalities statistics, 31.2 per cent of crashes in the Perth Metropolitan Area have resulted from speeding.

A 2000-2002 report on the effect of Black Spot treatments in reducing crashes, found a twenty-one point three per cent crash reduction in all Metropolitan sites, when a roundabout was used.

“The Black Spot Program is to deal with safety issues,” said Mr Mo.

The roundabout is a recognised counter measure to address the crashes at the approaches to the intersection”, said Mr Mo.

Businesses around the junction said they had been consulted in advance and were in favour of the roadworks.

Vintage Cellars manager, Gaelle Houdy said that although she did not think a roundabout was needed, she supported it if helped reduced accidents on the road.

‘If it can slow down people, it’s a good idea” said Ms Houdy.

Tiamo Café Restaurant manager, Charles Peter, said construction of the roundabout had encouraged drivers to slow down and be more cautious when approaching the roundabout.

“It’s a move in the right direction I think. It’s about time we had something here,” said Mr Peter.

Mr Mo said the majority of the community’s response to the roadworks was positive.

He said negative responses to the roadworks were generally from people who lived outside the affected area.

The costs for the roadworks are shared between the Nedlands and Subiaco councils, as Hampden road marks the boundary between the two councils.

Construction of the roundabout began six weeks ago by the Subiaco council and is scheduled to be completed in a month.

The Subiaco council was unavailable for comment.