PEDESTRIANS have called for a crossing to be placed on Latrobe Street, near the Pleasant Street intersection, after a woman was nearly hit by a car last week.
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Dot Stowe, 69, tripped crossing Latrobe Street while walking to the Ballarat South Senior Citizens Centre and was almost hit by a car coming out of a shopping centre car park nearby.
“I tripped and there were cars coming, I don’t know what they were doing,” she said.
Her friend Shirley Pattinson was crossing the road with her to the centre.
“I was helping her up, and I had to let her go and put my hands up to stop the car coming at us,” she said.
The fall left Ms Stowe with a bruised face and limited vision in her left eye, as well as bruised ribs and a grazed elbow.
Senior Citizens club president Sue Thurgood said there had been several near misses outside the centre as well, with people reversing out of the car parks across the road without checking for pedestrians.
“We just want somewhere safe to cross. We don’t mind what it is, as long as it’s a crossing,” Ms Thurgood said.
Ms Thurgood said the City of Ballarat told her it could not help, because crossings were VicRoads’ responsibility.
“(The council) was great, but couldn’t really do anything,” she said.
The group has yet to contact VicRoads, but said they would look into it.
The centre is attached to Pleasant Street Reserve, which hosts junior soccer on the weekends and training during the week.
Ms Thurgood said the players and parents, as well as the residents who cut through the park, would benefit from a safer crossing.
alex.hamer@fairfaxmedia.com.au
