OPINION: The best thing about driving around Mildura is undoubtedly the traffic fluidity created by its roundabout system.
Designed to a grid plan back when cars were pretty much science fiction and long before we accumulated an average of two of them per household, this city would these days be constantly choked by little traffic jams if our dozens of four-way junctions were governed by stop and give-way signs or traffic lights.
Roundabouts tend to keep things flowing and ours might well make this the easiest city of its size for driving in the nation.
Yet a few local people like to moan about them on social media as if they pose a problem. They never seem to explain what that problem is and really most of these moans can be discounted as the usual grumbles from the usual grumblers, but I wonder if at least some of this discontent could be tracked back to a good idea that was taken a bit too far.
The zebra crossings incorporated into City Heart roundabouts were a well-meant notion aimed at encouraging pedestrian traffic in the CBD by giving pedestrians right of way. It seemed a good enough idea at the time, especially as it included obvious safety benefits, but Mildura Rural City Council’s new 30km/h CBD speed limit, if adopted permanently after its current trial, should mean that drivers have plenty of time to stop and that errant pedestrians have plenty of time to get on and off the bitumen.
The main reason I’d like to see them go, though, is to bring the rules of those specific roundabouts back into line with all the others around town, the state and the nation, eliminating confusion that could one day cause a nasty incident (if it hasn’t already).
I live on the east side of the city and like to walk a lot.
This means I’m often crossing the street at roundabouts on Madden and San Mateo avenues, which do not feature dedicated pedestrian crossings and so cars have the right of way.
A week never goes by, though, without a driver or two stopping in the middle of those roundabouts, as I’m waiting for them to pass, to wave me across as if it was the other way around.
This is not a huge problem, but its does somewhat negate the natural advantage of roundabouts and of course it causes confusion about who’s moving and when. So far, the worst that has happened to me is that I’ve been yelled at by a driver, who was third in an unnecessary queue, to hurry up and get across, but if a car stops and the driver waves me through just as I’ve stopped to wave them through, as I should, and then we both take the other’s polite advice at once, well…
Some of this is indeed just an over abundance of courtesy which, on the roads, is possibly better than a lack of it, but this is not behaviour you see in other cities and I feel pretty sure it’s related to the habits created by the City Heart crossings. And it’s another potential habit that worries me quite a bit more.
I don’t always walk and I’m often driving on San Mateo or Madden and, once again, never a week goes by without me having to brake suddenly for someone who’s walked out of the City Heart and into my path because they’ve forgotten that the roundabouts are different on the other side of Deakin.
That’s an easy enough mistake for adults to make, so how about kids?
If you’re just learning the road rules and most of your exposure to them has been crossing streets between CBD shops with mum or dad, you might well have developed an assumption that cars will stop for you at roundabouts.
You’d only have to be just out of a parent’s reach to take a step that could be your last.
The council has a long-term plan for mobility and access in the CBD and that 30km/h trial is part of it.
The limit itself was rushed out in isolation and has caused a lot of controversy, as talk of reducing speed limits always does, but I think it will stay beyond the trial because it really shouldn’t inconvenience any driver and stopping distances, which are directly related to speed, are definitely an important factor in pedestrian safety.
In fact, after five crashes and one fatality on Pine Avenue, the council won a road-safety award in 2020 for installing gentle speed bumps to slow cars down before they get to such intersections, which to me seems a more practical option and causes no confusion at all.
So hurray for our roundabout system, but let’s take this opportunity to get rid of those zebra crossings.
I’ve never heard anyone say they’ve made shopping any easier or safer in the City Heart, but they obviously do cause confusion on the roads, especially between drivers and pedestrians, and that can have disastrous consequences.
