Only in Yarraville...

[Eastdog]

Re: Only in Yarraville...

I keep increasing my driving experience. Drove down to Williamstown today. Here are a few photos I took from the Point Gellibrand Coastal Park. Nice drive down Nelson Place Battery Road and Esplanade Willy beach. I stopped by again at the Yarraville Coles to get some stuff I forgot from yesterday.

[EasternWest]

Re: Only in Yarraville...

Eastie did you see a bit of a line of folks waiting around at the Yarraville Oval nets?

Meta.

[Eastdog]

Re: Only in Yarraville...

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp.news.com.au/national/victoria/news/petition-calls-on-maribyrnong-council-to-remove-dangerous-polka-dots-on-yaraville-streets/news-story/903dddcd2cee0880b2a9dcd1668e44a3

Petition calls on Maribyrnong Council to remove ‘dangerous’ polka dots on Yaraville streets
MARCH 22, 2021 2:32PM


A Melbourne council’s bid to improve road safety by painting massive polka dots on streets is instead dangerously luring children out onto the road, locals say.


More than 250 people have signed a petition to have the colourful polka dots removed after Maribyrnong Council painted the spots on Anderson Street in Yarraville last week.

Mayor Michael Clarke said the move was part of a “traffic calming initiative”.

“When you’ve got big circles like this … instead of a driver just driving down the street, almost at times in a bit of a torpor, the colours and the brightness actually create a bit of a neural stimulation, and the first response is the driver slows down,” he told 3AW.

“I’ve already had some feedback from one of the restaurateurs there … it does look like cars are slowing down in response to the polka dots.”

But the petition calling for the polka dots to be removed mentions there has been “several near misses of children almost being run over by cars on the busy Yarraville village streets”.

“Some local parents have outlined several situations of their children running onto the road, before they could be stopped, and almost being hit by oncoming traffic,” it read.

“There have even been videos published online of children who seen playing on the polka dots, right in the middle of the road, hopping around and having fun – putting both drivers and themselves at risk of harm.

“The children are lured onto the road thinking the colourful, playful and schoolyard-like appearance of the polka dots are an opportunity to play.”

But Cr Clarke maintained it was a problem the council considered before installing the dots.

“I actually put that question to the grade sixes at St Margaret’s Primary School in Maribyrnong, and all 41 kids were very clear that they wouldn’t run onto the road just to look at circles,” he said.

Maribyrnong Council has been contacted for comment.

[Twodogs]

Re: Only in Yarraville...

I literally just (yes at 10.30pm) drove over the polka dotted corner of Anderson and Ballarat streets. It was an interesting sight and the last thing I was expecting to see.

I had a bit of a chuckle to myself imagining what my dad's (who worked as a painter/road marker for the local council for 30+ years and who's job it would have been to paint them) reaction would have been when they told him to do it. The sentence would have started with "don't be ridiculous" and then included the words arse, stick, up, it and your.

[jeemak]

Re: Only in Yarraville...

Who films kids playing on the road instead of stopping kids from playing on the road?

[Twodogs]

Re: Only in Yarraville...

Who films kids playing on the road instead of stopping kids from playing on the road?

It's a distraction to give the older kids enough time to hotwire cars parked in the next street.

[Eastdog]

Re: Only in Yarraville...

https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/news/speed-bumps-installed-over-dangerous-giant-polka-dots-on-yarraville-road/news-story/af2a6eeb2dfb5fb89865b670863b4598

Speed bumps installed over ‘dangerous’ giant polka dots on Yarraville road


After generating fury among parents of young children, “dangerous” giant polka dots recently painted on a Melbourne road will be replaced by speed humps.


After generating fury and concern among parents of young children, speed humps will be installed over controversial and “dangerous” giant polka dots recently painted on a Melbourne road.

The colourful spots were installed on a busy Yarraville street last month by the Maribyrnong Council in a bid to get cars to slow down – but families swiftly slammed the move, saying it encouraged children to play on the road.

“I saw kids hopping dot to dot playing games, there was a car approaching and the car had to honk for the children to move away – there was a three-year-old child among others,” Yarraville resident Anthony Gracia told the Herald Sun.

Maribyrnong local Caroline McKean told the publication the dots looked like “fun” to kids who were running into oncoming traffic.

“It’s easy to teach kids about road safety and say, ‘don’t go on the road … cross at the zebra crossings’ but polka dots on a road looks like fun,” the mother-of-two said.

“Life is hard enough as it is without the council making it harder … this was never created with thoughts of parents with young children in mind.”

Now, just two weeks later, workers have been installing speed bumps on the busy street.

While the spots were “innovative”, Maribyrnong Mayor Michael Clarke said the council had listened to community feedback.

“This innovative trial is designed to encourage all road users – drivers, pedestrians and cyclists – to approach with additional care,” he said.

“Concerns have been raised by some community members regarding the safety – and we’ve listened.”

The council has also applied to the Department of Transport to drop the Ballarat and Canterbury streets intersection to 20km/h.

Speaking to 7 News, Councillor Clarke said there had been “a clear reduction in speed in the district since we put the polka dots in”.

He added he was surprised at the controversy the spots had caused, but understood “there are dimensions to every initiative”.

“This is one of those examples of only after the implementation, we found there was an issue,” he said.

[Eastdog]

Re: Only in Yarraville...

Returned to the Railway Hotel in Yarraville today. First time I have been to the pub since we were out of lockdown in Melbourne. Great to be back out again.