Penrith Council is being urged to install traffic calming devices along a residential street described as a “racetrack”.
Kay Buckley worries it is only a matter of time before someone is seriously hurt along King Street, Penrith, with a major two-car crash late last month further fuelling her fears.
“The accident happened right out the front of my place,” she said.
“I think it’s amazing they walked away from it seemingly without a scratch.
“It could have easily come smashing into where I was sitting in the lounge room because it was like one car pushing another along.”
Ms Buckley, whose home faces King Street and forms part of the RSL LifeCare First Fleet Village, said management had approached Council for assistance with no luck.
“They have written to Council,” she said.
“They do have a problem on Glebe Place as well, it’s quite dangerous, but in King Street, this street unfortunately has a reputation for cars speeding especially morning and night.”
A Council spokesman said it had monitored the location.
“Council has investigated vehicle speeds and traffic counts at the location with the data collected showing the vast majority of motorists travelling at or below the posted speed limit for that location,” he said.
“Traffic calming measures such as speed humps are not generally installed to deal with occasional hoons, but rather where the majority of vehicles are found to be travelling too fast.
“Hoon behaviour should be reported to police for enforcement.”
The spokesman said Council had recently upgraded an intersection in the area to improve safety.
“In 2020 Council upgraded the intersection of King Street and The Crescent to improve sight distance for oncoming vehicles and intersection safety overall,” he said.
“Council will continue to monitor these locations for ongoing improvements as needed.”
Ms Buckley said she had already notified police in the past.
“I said, ‘these people are definitely speeding. If you just sat there in a car, in a police car, you would catch a lot of people speeding and it might stop the ones doing it’,” she said.
“The accident the other night did just prompt me to see how serious this is.”
Alena Higgins is the Weekender’s Senior News Reporter, primarily covering courts and Council issues.
