And one resident has not so subtly pointed out his or her frustrations by erecting an expletive-laden sign on the corner to tell drivers what they think of the way they use the street.

Kossuth Street, which becomes a 'T' intersection at Hill Street is less than 1km from Phoenix College and is unsealed.

But despite the dangerous conditions of the street, which are magnified during wet weather, many drivers still use it as a 'rat run' to avoid traffic, particularly at school drop-off and pick-up times.

While the road itself is full of potholes, the biggest issue facing residents is that there is no 'give way' or 'stop' sign at the intersection.

A white line on the intersection which should alert drivers to slow down cannot be seen due to the amount of dust and dirt covering it at the corner.

When The Courier visited the site on Wednesday, dirt tracks from cars and trucks could be seen covering the width of the intersection.

Resident Renee Harwood said it was only a matter of time before a car went out of control and into her family's front room.

"Especially long weekends, you find that's when it is the worst time," she said.

"We've had cars nearly go into the traffic island out the front of our house. I think there was one that might have been a stolen car and that driver took off.

"We've had people crash into the gutter, doing 'snakey's' down there and lost it.

"We've been here six years and it's been like this the whole time. All the young ones seem to know what this road is like now. Residents are really concerned about it."

Another resident who asked not to be named said they had lived in the street for almost 30 years and it had always been a problem which had seemed to be placed in the "too-hard basket".

"You get a lot of blokes who are flat-out doing burnouts, fish-tailing their cars," he said.

"One day I was out in the backyard and heard cars screeching, I came round the front and saw someone flying through, they did a U-turn and tools went flying everywhere. I don't know if it was stolen or not.

"We even had a situation where we had one car burned out. I can understand the people near where the road comes out, it would be frightening the way they tear down there, they could easily lose control and go straight through the house."

The resident said he'd love to see it sealed, even if it meant just to cut the amount of dust.

"Out the back of our house we get so much dust, it's constant, particularly when trucks go down," he said. "And you've got a school very close, anything could happen the way they drive through there."

Another resident said while hoons were a constant, he agreed a 'give way' or 'stop' sign might not stop them, but might mean 'rat runners' take a closer before flying around the corner.

A City of Ballarat spokesperson said there were a number of unsealed roads in suburban Ballarat which were regularly monitored.

"Kossuth Street is currently not earmarked for sealing however the City of Ballarat is undertaking an assessment of the unsealed road network within the next 12 months to assess and prioritise the unsealed road network for sealing," a spokesperson said.

"In relation to stop sign and intersection improvements this can be logged through our customer service team to the traffic and transport area who will undertake an inspection and determine what is required."

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