Sign incident raises fears for students

Local mum Camile Mathews fears for the safety of students, after seeing a car reverse into a street sign near the Port Hedland Primary School road crossing.

She said parents had become so fed up by the lack of parking spaces near the school they had started pulling up on footpaths to pick up and drop off their children.

While she understood building more parking bays was a long and complicated process, Ms Mathews asked the Town of Port Hedland to employ a temporary solution.

She wants the local government to stop people parking on the footpaths by using stakes and high visibility tape to restrict access.

“If a driver cannot see a 3m sign post, then I’m sure it would be easy to miss a one-metre child, ” she wrote in an email to the Town.

“I see dangerous acts by drivers daily.

“I am seriously disappointed that measures have not been taken.

“Things need to happen today, not tomorrow, next week or next month.”

Ms Mathews’ complaints join those from a chorus of concerned Port and South Hedland parents on social media.

Pilbara Education Office regional executive director Neil Darby told the Telegraph earlier this month his department was working on several projects to fix the problem.

“At Cassia Primary School, a $270,000 project is under way to build additional parking bays to alleviate congestion — this is expected to be ready by July, ” he said.

“A feasibility report has been approved for additional parking at Baler Primary School, which will be jointly funded by the Department of Education and the Town of Port Hedland.

“We are continuing to look into alternative parking solutions at Port Hedland Primary School.”

Mayor Kelly Howlett said while car parking was the responsibility of the Education Department, the Town was also lending assistance.

She said the Town had been in contact with Ms Mathews.

However, Ms Mathews said she was yet to receive a satisfactory response about whether the Town would act on a temporary solution.