_Keeping Outdoor Play Areas Safe

As a result of recent traffic accidents at Auburn South Primary School and a number of childcare centres in Victoria, it has emerged that locating outdoor play areas in proximity to roads without a safety barrier presents an unacceptable risk to children and others.

While these incidents can be best described as freak accidents with many relating to medical episodes, as evidenced at Auburn South Primary School, the consequences can be catastrophic.

Although it has been reported that the installation of bollards within the road reserve should be considered to protect pedestrians and outdoor play areas, we were involved on a project for a childcare centre where a Council traffic department shared a slightly different view.

The position of the traffic department was that bollards in the road reserve would present an unacceptable risk to drivers if they were hit as a result of unrelated traffic accidents.  For example, if a car was to swerve off the road and mount the kerb in theory, it would then have an opportunity to perform a correction manoeuvre that would otherwise not be possible if bollards were installed. 

Furthermore, the view of the Council traffic department was that the road reserve should be maintained as much as possible as a ‘free zone’ and that measures that were required primarily to protect an outdoor play area are best addressed on private land.

While there are differences in opinion, the general consensus remains that there is an obvious regulatory gap whether this be in the planning system or elsewhere, where guidance is much needed on this issue.