Road safety

School crossings

We are responsible for 75 school crossings across Merri-bek. School Crossing Supervisors staff these on every school day. Our school crossing supervisors keep children and other pedestrians safe while they use the crossings. You can get fined if you break road rules around school crossings.

Speed limits at school crossings

When picking up and dropping off your children, it is important that you are careful and observe speed limits. Information about speed limits around schools is on the VicRoads website.

Parking and stopping around schools

As well as speed limits, there are set rules around parking and stopping.

You must follow general parking and stopping rules, but to keep children and other pedestrians around the school safe, you should also:

  • never leave your vehicle within 20 metres of the side of the school crossing which children are approaching
  • never leave your vehicle within 20 metres of the side of a bus stop where children are approaching
  • never leave your vehicle within 10 metres of the side of the school crossing which children are leaving
  • never leave your vehicle within 10 metres of the side of a bus stop where children are leaving
  • never leave your vehicle parked in a bus lane.

More information about road rules and parking is available on the VicRoads website.

Staying safe at school crossings

Children and pedestrians

To stay safe at school crossings children and pedestrians should:

  • stand behind the yellow line
  • never follow the crossing supervisor out onto the crossing
  • wait until you hear their whistle (two short blasts) before crossing
  • do not ride bikes across the crossing, bounce a ball, fight or run
  • walk quickly and safely
  • stay within the lines of the crossing and walk in front of the supervisor (never behind them)

Drivers

To stay safe at school crossings drivers should:

  • adhere to the enforced speed limits
  • park well away from crossings
  • drive slowly and be prepared to stop
  • listen to what crossing supervisors say
  • completely stop your vehicle and avoid rolling
  • wait until people have returned to the footpath before driving off

For more information on school crossing safety, you can read the School Crossing Safety pocket guide (PDF 3Mb).

If you are concerned about something at a school crossing, you can report the issue to us using the details on our Contact us page.

Becoming a School crossing supervisor

Supervisors are from all walks of life and backgrounds. Many of these available roles are for casual crossing supervisors, who fill in for our permanent supervisors when they are away. Casual supervisors can become permanent when there is an available role.

Our school crossing supervisors are trained in road safety and have a current Working with Children check carried out by Victoria Police.

You can see the current vacancies for School crossing supervisor roles on our Current vacancies page.

Zebra crossings

The Victorian COVID-19 state of emergency is impacting the way we travel and move around. As we emerge from COVID-19 restrictions and beyond, we want to make it easier for our community to get around local neighbourhoods by walking and cycling. One of the ways we are doing this is through establishing high-quality pedestrian routes and places that are safe, comfortable and accessible. This includes the creation of new zebra crossings throughout Merri-bek at various intersections and roundabouts.

The zebra crossings will make it easier and safer for people to cross the road, particularly for people who need a bit more time to do so. This includes elderly people, families with children, and people with disabilities. They will also send a visual signal that walking is encouraged and that drivers and cyclists need to look out for pedestrians.

You can find out more about where these zebra crossings are being installed on our Transport projects page.

Reporting a vehicle accident

We use a crash reporting system to keep track of how many vehicle crashes happen in Merri-bek. We use this information to inform our road safety projects and allocate funding to areas where there is a high number of crashes.

Not all vehicle crashes are recorded by the police, such as property damage crashes. Using our reporting system, you can report crashes and we can gather more details, including the date of the crash and the weather conditions.

You should always report a crash to Victoria Police if an injury has occurred.

You can report a crash in Merri-bek if Victoria Police did not attend and record the crash. You will need to lodge this report on our eServices website.

Heavy vehicle access to Merri-bek's roads

If you want to drive a heavy vehicle on roads in Merri-bek, you will need to apply with the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) who manage and coordinate access. You can fill this application on the NHVR website.

The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator is Australia’s independent regulator for all vehicles over 4.5-tonne gross vehicle mass. The Regulator manages and coordinates all heavy vehicle road access under the 'Heavy Vehicle National Law' which is available on the NHVR website.

  • Heavy or long vehicles have more than 4.5 tonne gross vehicle mass (GVM) and are more than of 7.5 metres in length.

    The gross vehicle mass (GVM) of a vehicle is the gross weight of the vehicle, including the actual weight of the vehicle and its maximum carrying capacity.

    Heavy vehicles include:

    • semi-trailers
    • B-double freight trucks
    • road trains
    • passenger buses
    • vehicle carriers
    • livestock and other agricultural vehicles
    • mobile cranes and other special purpose vehicles.

Under the 'Heavy Vehicle National Law', the NHVR needs to gain formal consent from Merri-bek Council to allow the following vehicles to travel on roads for which Merri-bek Council is the road manager:

  • Restricted Access Heavy Vehicles
  • Class 2 Heavy Vehicles
  • Special Purpose Vehicles which are not accessing roads within the approved special purpose vehicle network or are otherwise exempted by a government gazettal, including mobile cranes

These vehicles are defined in the 'Heavy Vehicle National Law'. The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator is not required to gain our approval for other types or classes of heavy vehicle.

Preapproved roads for heavy vehicles

There are some roads that are preapproved for heavy vehicles, meaning you don't need to contact the Regulator. You can find a map of these roads on VicRoads website.

How to apply to use a heavy vehicle on a road in Merri-bek

All applications are lodged directly with the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) on the NHVR website.

Parking a heavy or long vehicle

If you are driving a heavy or long vehicle, you can only park it in an area with shops, buildings and houses for longer than an hour if either:

  • there is a parking sign that says that it is allowed
  • you are picking up or dropping off goods

Heavy or long vehicles have more than 4.5-tonne gross vehicle mass (GVM) and are more than 7.5 metres in length.

The gross vehicle mass (GVM) of a vehicle is the gross weight of the vehicle, including the actual weight of the vehicle and its maximum carrying capacity. You can find out about key road rules for heavy vehicles on the VicRoads website.