Signs of safety up

Mount Dandenong Primary School principal Mike Leonard with school council president Kirsten Vernon and her children Travis and Eloise and James Merlino at the new electronic signs at the school. 149845 Picture: CONTRIBUTED

By VICTORIA STONE-MEADOWS

MOUNT Dandenong Primary School is the latest school in the Dandenongs to have new electronic 40km/h signs installed.
Signs were switched on at Mount Dandenong Primary School, The Patch Primary School and Selby Primary School as of the start of the school term.
The Mount Dandenong Tourist Road will also have a reduced speed limit around the school, dropping the current 60km/h limit to 40km/h after working toward this for the last seven years.
The back entrance to The Patch Primary School on The Patch Road, which is a 60km/h zone, will also be lowered to 40km/h during school times.
Selby Primary School will also have their static speed limit signs upgraded to four new electronic signs on Belgrave-Gembrook Road.
Education Minister James Merlino paid a visit to Mount Dandenong Primary school on Wednesday 3 February to see the new signs.
“We’ve made the roads around schools in Monbulk safer, so that our kids come home safe and sound at the end of every school day,” he said.
Mount Dandenong Primary School principal Michael Leonard said the signs would make a big difference to the safety of the school community.
“The crossing is located on a sweeping bend, and it is often wet and slippery on the roads up here. We have had some near misses in the past,” he said.
“Slowing vehicles down to 40km/h will make a huge difference. Knowing that our students, parents, toddlers and crossing supervisors are going to be safer is a big relief.”