Residents call on ACT government to improve street safety and accessibility

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Residents in Belconnen in the ACT are calling on the government to make their streets safer and more accessible. The group pedal power is leading the push while the issue is highlighting policy differences between the ACT's two governing parties.

Transcript

00:00 For John Barlow, walking to the shops is riskier than it should be.

00:06 John is blind and his guide dog, Luigi, is still learning the streets of Cook, Macquarie and Jamieson.

00:12 At the end of the day, like anybody else, I'm just trying to cross the road.

00:16 A lack of traffic lights with pedestrian crossings on some busy intersections means John and Luigi have had some near misses.

00:23 So as I was in the middle of the pedestrian, or it was an actual cement refuge,

00:27 I had to really, really yank on the chain and pull him back.

00:30 John took his concerns about walking infrastructure to local Greens member Jo Clay a year ago.

00:35 Since then, the government has released its Active Travel Plan, which does include an upgraded crossing on Bowman Street.

00:41 But Ms Clay says this doesn't go far enough.

00:44 What we're not seeing is a full active travel filter put on Jamieson.

00:49 We probably need to be doing that in all of our group centres and across Canberra.

00:54 The petition was started by Pedal Power, who want better crossings on Redfern Street and upgrades to cycle routes and footpaths around the area.

01:01 John has come to us multiple times to say this is not safe for him and that he's fearing for his life crossing the road.

01:07 While Jo Clay has raised the issue with her colleagues in governments,

01:10 some locals now feel a petition put before the Assembly is needed to get safer streets,

01:16 perhaps highlighting a difference in policy focus within the Greens-Labour coalition.

01:21 Active travel is a really big priority for the Greens.

01:24 I've got to say we get a lot of agreement in principle,

01:27 but we're not seeing the infrastructure rolling out the way that we need to.

01:31 The government says it's spending $90 million on active travel across the capital.

01:35 capital.

01:35 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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