A PETITION has been lodged with the Mornington Peninsula Shire, calling for a series of traffic management improvements on Baden Powell Place in Mount Eliza.
Residents are seeking an extension of a keep clear zone adjacent to the street to allow better access to driveways, particularly during peak pick-up and drop-off times at the nearby childcare centre.
The 19 signature petition also called for lower speed limits along the street to prevent excessive speeds, particularly from drivers using Baden Powell Place as a shortcut to avoid traffic lights at Nepean Hwy and Canadian Bay Rd.
Residents have suggested the installation of speed humps at both ends of the street, noting that such measures have “proven successful in other metropolitan areas.”
Safety concerns were also highlighted, with the petition requesting caution signs at the northern end of the street, warning that “there are small children in prams and elderly pedestrians who are forced to walk on the road because of the difficult camber of the footpath.”
Attention is also drawn to recurring potholes and the deteriorating road surface at the southern end, where school traffic is heavy, along with a request to notify residents of traffic flow diagrams when development occurs at the old Lintons Nursery site.
The shire has responded to the petition, acknowledging the concerns.
Baden Powell Place has a default speed limit of 50kph, consistent with other local roads in the area, a shire report said.
“Previous investigations undertaken by the shire in 2023 identified that speeds of the majority of vehicles was below the 50kph speed limit. They also showed that the volume of vehicles using the road was well within the acceptable range for a road such as Baden Powell Place which has a number of residential properties and a childcare centre,” the report stated.
Regarding the keep clear zone, the shire said that “the Australian standards have very clear guidelines regarding the use of keep clear line marking and advise that they shall not be used primarily for the purpose of facilitating access to or from a side street or driveway”
“Therefore, the extension of the keep clear line marking to include the driveway access is not considered appropriate.”
Shire officers have indicated they will continue to monitor traffic behaviour and “consider what if any changes are warranted in the street to improve safety or the operation of the street.”
The petition was formally received at the shire’s 17 March meeting.
First published in the Mornington News – 24 March 2026
