Crossing confusion

A PAKENHAM driving instructor has defended the Cardinia Shire Council’s decision to put pedestrian crossings at roundabouts.
Charlie Hicks, from Progress Driving School, said the crossings had been placed in the right positions.
“Where they’ve put them actually makes sense to me,” Mr Hicks said.
“They are the two areas where people tend to walk anyway.”
One resident, who contacted the News last week, said the crossings were confusing for drivers because, legally, pedestrians must give way to drivers at a roundabout.
“It’s one law against another one,” he said.
“It’s an illegal situation and someone will get killed.”
Two legal walkways for pedestrians are located at the roundabouts on Main Street, near John Street, and the other near Station Street in Pakenham.
Mr Hicks said he understood the confusion and had some reservations about the decision because traffic would be clogged at the roundabout as motorists gave way to pedestrians.
He said the whole idea of a roundabout was to maintain an even traffic flow.”
But Mr Hicks said drivers should perceive when a roundabout was clogged up and not drive into it.
“At the end of the day, the pedestrians should always be protected,” he said.
When you are talking about a narrow main street where there are more pedestrians than cars, you’ve got to look at the protection of pedestrians.
“There are conflicting views here. In my opinion no one is going to be happy, but I support it.”
Mr Hicks said cars had room to stop because the crossings were slightly indented away from the roundabout.
“The legal point here is that pedestrians can only cross between the white lines, and not just anywhere on the raised pavement,” he said.
Mr Hicks said the roundabouts had not caused many problems with his students.
“I think they (students) are approaching it in a very practical way. It’s about me teaching the correct legal issue,” he said.