LATE RFI Attachment 5 - Advice from Traffic and Transport Plus

24.   I note the following with respect to the left turn to Opal Street from Elm Street (North→East).
         a)         A car turning left into Elm Street has priority over all other vehicles (including right turners into and
                    out of Elm Street) and would have no reason to stop to give way to a vehicle before undertaking
                    the left turn into Elm Street.
         b)         A car turning left into Elm Street is legally required to give way to a pedestrian that is crossing
                    between the north east and south east corners of the intersection — this in practice is uncommon
                    as most pedestrians will wait until all traffic has passed before crossing a road, but legally those
                    pedestrians have right of way over turning vehicles.
          c)        The driver of a car turning left into Elm Street is able to observe a car is parked in the western
                    space (as shown in Figure 2).
         d)         It is theoretically possible for a car turning left into Elm Street to be fully obscured from a driver of
                    a car parked in the western space (approximately the location of the green B50 shown in Figure 4).
                    However, at the location this obscuring would take place is not reasonably likely to be a location at
                    which a car would be stationery. Most left turners would therefore only be briefly obscured by the
                    phone booth obstruction and would be visible in the moments immediately before and immediately
                    after the moment they are obscured.
         e)         Any driver of a car parked in the western space would be able to scan for vehicles turning left into
                    Opal Street, and identify moving vehicles both before and after they are obscured by the phone
                    booth and therefore be able to give way and enter Opal Street safely.
          f)        If a left turn driver does stop to give way to a pedestrian crossing at Opal Street (as such drivers
                    are legally required to do) then they would prop at a location on Elm Street visible to a driver parked
                    in the western space. In the event that a left turning driver is giving way to a pedestrian, this would
                    afford a driver in the western space the opportunity to enter Opal Street.
         g)         As such, I do not consider that the phone booth inhibits nor materially hinders the view of drivers
                    of vehicles parked in the western space and does not create a meaningful traffic hazard.
25.   I note the following in respect to the right turn into Opal Street from Elm Street (South→East)
         a)         A car turning right into Opal Street would prop on Elm Street and wait for a gap in the southbound
                    traffic before proceeding.
         b)         The electrical box does not completely obscure the car turning right into Opal Street from the driver
                    a car parked in the western space — some part of the vehicle (front or rear or both) would be
                    visible.
          c)        A driver of a car located in the western space should be able to see a car propped waiting to turn
                    right into Opal Street.
         d)         In the rare case that a vehicle propped to turn right into Opal Street is not visible to a driver parked
                    in the western space, I do not consider that this creates a significant risk as:
                (i)        The car turning right would be travelling at a significantly lower speed than the posted speed
                           of 50kph as it undertakes and completes the turn manoeuvre
               (ii)        The carriageway adjacent to the western space is wide (~6m from kerb to centreline). The
                           driver of a car reversing from the western space would continue to observe Opal Street and
                           would see any car that had previously been obscured by the electrical box before the
                           reversing car enters the trafficable part of the carriageway.
         e)         As such, I do not consider that the electrical box inhibits the view of a reversing driver in such a
                    way that the driver could not terminate their reverse in safe manner to let traffic on Opal Street
                    continue to have priority.
26.   In summary, vehicles entering Opal Street from its western end, if obscured at all to drivers parked in the western
      space, would be so only briefly and those cars would be visible in the moments immediately before and
      immediately after the moment they are obscured. The obscuration caused by the identified obstructions only
      occurs when a vehicle turning right into Opal Street is stationery and a vehicle stopped in the western space
      when they must reverse onto Opal Street — when a vehicle departs the western bay any vehicle located in blind
      spots caused by the obstructions become visible before the car has reversed into the trafficable part of the
      eastbound lane.




      20230606_TTPlus_TrafficResponseToRFI.docx                                                                      6



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