St Marys resident Betty Murray, who is blind and hearing impaired, is calling on Penrith City Council to provide an adequate pedestrian crossing at a busy intersection following a near death experience.
Mrs Murray and her husband, John, went out into the community with a petition to fix the crossing on Chapel Street near Queen Street in St Marys, garnering almost 1000 signatures.
After presenting the petition to Londonderry MP Prue Car, she teamed up with Councillor Robin Cook to combat the issue.
“A lot of the businesses around that part of Queen Street also spoke to me, they’d all seen Betty be put in these dangerous situations and everyone knows her around St Marys, so we asked Council to do something,” Ms Car said.
“They’ve constructed this thing there but no one knows what it is, so for anyone it’s pretty dangerous and I think drivers don’t know whether it’s a pedestrian crossing or not, so if you’re someone like Betty who is vision impaired, you could be in a life threatening situation very quickly.”
The crossing on Chapel Street is a speed hump with no stripes or signage.
Cr Cook presented the petition to Council last week, which will now go to the traffic committee for investigation.
“The other Councillors are very supportive, it’s just common sense. I’m a member of the Access Committee, so I think the State Government just needs to think about things like this,” Cr Cook said.
“St Marys is a high growth area so thinking about going into the future, it’s all well and good giving us more housing but we have to have all these safety issues in place as well, they need to think about the whole of the community.”
Council will now await a briefing from the traffic committee that will direct what steps need to be taken.
In the meantime, Ms Car and Cr Cook have urged locals to be careful in the area.
Nicola Barton
A graduate of Western Sydney University, Nicola Barton is a news journalist with the Western Weekender, primarily covering crime and politics.