The following day, between 3pm and 3.45pm, I checked the situation at the two Oxley Highway RABs to determine if any significant changes had occurred, since checks at the same time on the previous Wednesday and Thursday, and noted as follows:

Oxley Highway - Oxley Drive intersection

The number of westbound drivers signaling their exit from the Oxley Highway into Oxley Drive had increased from 15% to 30% and all of these were doing so an average of two seconds earlier.

Although the need for drivers traveling west on the Oxley Highway, and intending to continue on the highway, to indicate a RH turn well before entering the RAB, and to indicate their exit, was not covered in my letter these requirements had surprisingly improved from 15 per cent to 85-90 per cent.

The increased confidence that the above improvements gave to the drivers of vehicles, waiting in Oxley Drive to negotiate the roundabout, resulted in them doing so more quickly and easily. The queue had in fact shortened from 250 metres to 80 metres, a condition that will be further improved on completion of Council’s in-progress Oxley Drive work.

Traffic entering Oxley Drive from the new Bunnings complex, at a rate of only 3 to 4 a minute will not result in a deterioration of this position. A gradual increase in Charles Sturt University traffic will also not be a problem because students starting and finishing times will be spread over the day.

These small increases in traffic numbers will be more than cancelled out by the significant reduction in both Oxley Drive and Oxley Highway traffic numbers when the Sovereign Hills shopping centre is completed.

The situation where the Oxley Drive queue is no longer backing up through the Major Innes Drive intersection, and traffic is now flowing very smoothly through this roundabout, means that Traffic Lights will not be required here. The immediate improvement in traffic flow at the Oxley Highway-Oxley Drive intersection, from just one day of improvement in driver behaviour, shows that the roundabout has been well designed by the RMS and therefore requires no further outlay of expenditure.

Oxley Highway - Lake Road intersection

A check of the number of vehicles continuing east on the Oxley Highway and using the Widderson/Hindman streets alternative route had increased from 2 to 8 vehicles per minute. Even this relatively small number had halved the number of vehicles waiting in the Oxley Highway eastern approach to the roundabout, from 2 lanes of 30 to 2 lanes of 15.

The effect on Lake Road traffic was also surprising with traffic flowing significantly more smoothly through the Jindalee, Blackbutt and Central Road roundabouts.

Ocean Drive – Pacific Drive - Jonas Absalom intersection

In just one day compliance with the road rule that requires drivers to signal an intention to turn either left or right well before a roundabout had improved from 10% to 50% and combined with the small improvement in the number of drivers signaling their exit (Up from 15% to 25%) had resulted in the Ocean Drive morning peak-hour queue from the south shortening from 40 to 15 vehicles and in the afternoon peak-hour a similar reduction in the Ocean Drive northern approach queue.

Considering that my letter of Monday 17 December was in the middle of the Christmas rush, when the Port News would have been read by far fewer people than usual, the improvement in traffic flow at all three roundabouts in only one day, while indeed surprising can be dramatically improved by drivers 100% compliance with the rules applying to roundabouts: any lane changing as early as possible before the intersection, early indication of all RH and LH turning, earlier and compulsory LH indication at every exit.

How can this standard be achieved? The balls really in Council’s court. A pamphlet emphasising the behavioural change required at each of the three roundabouts in question and dropped in every letterbox in the PMHC area and supported by a page in the Port News, the Hastings Gazette and Camden Haven Courier, all of this in the 2019 return to school week, will go a long way towards achieving this. The benefits to drivers; savings in time, fuel consumption and importantly reduced stress could also be included as well as the information that increased driver knowledge will result in a major smoothing of traffic flow at all roundabouts in the PMHC area. The increase in both small and large business productivity is not insignificant.

The fact that up to $4,000,000 of ratepayer’s money will not have to be spent on roundabouts with a probability that more than $100,000,000 from State revenue may not be required for the orbital road is welcome news.

Mike Dibbs, Port Macquarie