White line road rule change hurts residents and councils

Mr Clark (BOX HILL) – I raise with the Minister for Roads and Ports the unintended consequences that his introduction last year of a new single-white-line road rule is causing for residents in the Box Hill electorate, and I ask the minister to take action to ensure that these and any other similar unintended and undesirable consequences are remedied.

I have received a letter from a resident of Beresford Street, Mont Albert, who has sent me a copy of a notice delivered to householders by Victoria Police informing residents that statewide changes to the ‘white line’ traffic rules introduced last year mean that residents are no longer permitted to park in parts of Beresford Street. This is so even though the relevant parking areas are designated by white lines marked on the road and are areas in which they have previously been able to park.

Residents are threatened with infringement notices if they continue to park there.

In particular the police notice says:

Please note as of 09/11/2009 there has been amendments to the road rules 2009. As such drivers in Beresford Road, Mont Albert, are breaching some of these new rules.

It states that road rule 208(6) provides that:

If the road has a continuous dividing line, the driver must position the vehicle at least 3 metres from the continuous dividing line, unless otherwise indicated by information on or with a parking control sign.

By drivers parking as they do now, they are causing other motorists to cross onto the wrong side of the single dividing line which is also a new rule under the amended road rules 2009 — RR132(2) …

Please ensure you comply with the above rules to ensure you are not issued with an infringement notice.

It is appalling that changes to longstanding parking arrangements can be imposed by the statewide introduction of a new traffic rule without any consideration of how that rule will operate in streets such as Beresford Street. If changes are to be made in particular streets, they should be made by a decision based on proper consideration of the local situation, not as an unintended consequence of a poorly considered statewide rule change.

These unintended consequences have all the hallmarks of yet another centrally determined Brumby government initiative that has been imposed on the community with hopelessly inadequate consideration of the real world consequences that it will have in practice.

Based on what the police notice states, the unintended effects of this rule change on Beresford Street can be overcome either by removing the continuous white dividing line along those parts of Beresford Street where it is intended that parking be permitted or by installing parking signs in those areas as well as parking areas designated by road markings.

It may therefore be possible for the local Whitehorse council to overcome these consequences of the minister’s fiat and restore parking in those parts of Beresford Street that council considers are suitable for parking. However, the onus should not be put on Whitehorse and other councils without forewarning and at ratepayers’ expense to have to remedy the consequences of the minister’s ill-considered action.

I therefore ask the minister to do whatever is within his power to remedy the situation himself, not only in Beresford Street, Mont Albert, but in all other streets where similar problems have been caused.