RESIDENTS of Cuthberts Road have had enough.
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Their repeated calls for motorists to slow down have no been heard.
They fear their lives are at risk – with motorists taking advantage of the wide street to drive at their peril.
Nick Bruyn does not know what to do. He says they was woken up in the middle of the night to “unimaginably loud” sounds of cars screeching down the road.
Hundreds of metres of black skid marks – in a wave pattern are proof, he says.
At one point – a few hundreds metres from his house and just outside a small convenience store – evidence of “doughnuts” are on the roads.
“It started at 1.30am. It seemed to stop for a little bit, but then the sounds woke up my wife,” Mr Bruyn said.
“There were quite a few people out on the street – it was horribly loud.”
Mr Bruyn does not know what needs to be done to stop hoons – but is calling on council to come up with some kind of answer.
He says Cuthberts Roads is increasingly congested with more and more traffic, particularly around school drop off time.
He said he did not call the police because he feared it would be too late.
“This is a highly populated area – all it takes is one car to lose control and it could be a horrific accident,” Mr Bruyn said.
Mr Bruyn has previously called for the round-about on Cuthberts Roads near the near Towong and Ningana streets intersection to be widened, because he believes it would hopefully lead to a less dangerous situation, where people would not be likely to fly off and mount the curb.
Ballarat City Council mayor and head of the road safety committee Des Hudson has previously urged residents to be vigilant in reporting hoon driving.
He has reminded residents they could report roads that they thought were dangerous to council to be examined.
“We have long term roads maintenance … there is a hierarchy of local roads that are improved and serviced over a period,” Cr Hudson said.
He said furniture could be added to roads, but that council had tended to steer away from installing speed humps over the past few years.
“The focus should be on the behaviour of the driving. (We need) a community call to action to stop this hoon type of behaviour,” Cr Hudson said. Report hoon driving to 1800 333 000.
There were quite a few people out on the street – it was horribly loud.
- Nick Bruyn