City of Canning staff have suggested lowering the speed limit on High Road as part of a broad action plan to increase pedestrian safety around Lynwood Senior High School.
The move would force drivers to slow from 70km/h to 60km/h for the entire 5km stretch between Leach Highway and Nicholson Road.
Lynwood Senior High and its population of more than 1200 secondary students is about halfway along High Road.
City staff also say High Road’s current children’s crossing should become a proper pedestrian crossing with electronic signals and that the 40km/h school zone fronting Lynwood Senior High should be extended.
All of those decisions would ultimately fall to Main Roads WA if Canning council agrees to pass on the suggestions, which are set to be discussed at next Tuesday’s council meeting.
The need to better protect students arriving and leaving the school has heightened since changes were made in the past three years to school entry gates, drop-off areas and visitor parking along Metcalfe Road, which runs along the school’s south-eastern boundary.
Manned crossings no longer line up with school access points or the obvious walking route students prefer to take after school.
Other initiatives to come out of a pedestrian safety review that will be considered include traffic calming measures on Melcalfe Road and improved signage for parking restrictions near both the high school and nearby Parkwood Primary School.