Education focus for pedestrian laws in Buderim
Mon 29 June 2009
Laura Nolan, Journalism
Enforcement is taking a back seat to education when it comes to pedestrian law-breaking in Buderim.
Buderim Police believed teaching jaywalking pedestrians instead of handing out hard fines and penalties was important.
Jaywalking occurred when a pedestrian crosses the road illegally within 20m of a designated crossing, and was enforced with a $40 fine.
Buderim Police Beat Senior Constable Sandy Atkinson said in smaller communities such as Buderim informing before fining was a better option.
“Enforcement to me is obviously a last resort,” Sen-Constable Atkinson said.
“We’re looking at... a flyer which we would give out. It’s like an information sheet rather than a fine.”
A population boom and increased traffic in the local Buderim area caused incidences of jaywalking to rise and many pedestrians to ignore road safety rules.
The death of a male pedestrian on May 18, 2009, at Buderim also highlighted the issue.
The slower traffic, providing more opportunities to break the law, was also proving a temptation to pedestrians.
Sen-Constable Atkinson said some Buderim residents were seen stopping to “chat” halfway through crossing the road.
And with no law requiring pedestrians to carry identification, fining wrong-doers could prove useless, as false information could be given without an officer’s knowledge.
However, there were those who believed that education alone could not win the fight against pedestrian law-breaking.
The Pedestrian Council of Australia chairman Harold Scruby said that, although education was important, it was only one part of the solution.
“If people cross the road against the lights they should be fined, and they should be fined a lot,” Mr Scruby said.
Mr Scruby agreed there should be more policing of pedestrian zones and that fines should be increased.
“We want to see that, across Australia, the minimum fines should be $100,” Mr Scruby said.
Questions about possible causes of pedestrian law-breaking were also raised.
Sen-Constable Atkinson said many pedestrians believed it was “their right” to cross anywhere and ignored designated crossings when traffic was busy.
Sen-Constable Atkinson said a factor behind jaywalking was the convenience and desire to quickly reach destinations.
“When you put today’s society that is very rushed and want to get places very quickly, I think people make bad choices,” Snr Constable Atkinson said.
“We need to get them to think about the consequences of those choices.”
Another key factor was the length of waiting time at pedestrian crossings.
Of the many elements which contributed to pedestrian trauma, Mr Scruby said the long waits at crossing zones and “phasing” of lights in favour of cars were worrying.
“Pedestrians are getting very frustrated at walking through cities because they’ve got to wait for two minutes at every intersection, and that tends to makes a lot of them break the law,” Mr Scruby said.
“We [pedestrians] were here first.”
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