A Woodstock resident wants speed humps or speed signs in Albert Road and stricter law enforcement for drivers using bicycle lanes, after his family’s cars were damaged in four crashes.
Eddie Thompson said two drivers crashed into his stationary car and, subsequently, his daughter, Tammy’s car on Tuesday February 5, in the early hours of the morning on the corner of Greatmore Street and Albert Road.
When he went outside to hear what the commotion was, he saw that the two cars had been damaged, the back bumper of his and the side of Tammy’s.
He said the one vehicle had dragged the other some 30m, right into their parked vehicles.
“This is the second time my daughter’s vehicle had been knocked into, on the same spot, in less than six months,” he said.
Mr Thompson said metered taxi drivers regularly parked in the cycle lane, dropping off and collecting passengers in front of the Biscuit Mill and local bars.
“They have no regard for road rules. The City should really look into the way the metered taxi drivers operate on Albert Road,” Mr Thompson said.
Ward 115 councillor Dave Bryant said he had received a complaint about the incident and traffic problems in the area.
“I have notified our traffic department with a request that they assist in increasing operations at this space,” he said.
Mr Thompson suggested the City install either speed humps or other traffic calming measures but the City said its policy did not support that.
“Something needs to be done as the lawlessness of these drivers is unacceptable.
“The City either needs to put speed humps in the road, speed limit signs, or regular law enforcement officers that can assist with this issue that residents face,” he said.
Felicity Purchase, the City’s mayoral committee member for transport, said Albert Road was a Class 3 Road, which catered mainly for vehicular mobility.
“The City’s traffic calming policy does not support the implementation of physical traffic calming measures on mobility routes of this nature and rather aimed to protect the most vulnerable road users where they occur in the largest numbers on Class 4 Collector Streets and Class 5 Local Streets within residential areas and in the vicinity of public facilities.
“Road users at most risk of serious injury are vulnerable pedestrians, such as school children, who have no protection in the event of a vehicle collision,” she said.
This, however, does little to help Mr Thompson, whose wife’s parked car had to be written off after a driver crashed into it a few years ago.
When asked about the number of crashes reported along Albert Road over the past year, Ms Purchase said the City’s Accident Bureau database only recorded accidents up to the year 2016.
“For the four-year period 2012 to 2016, we recorded a total of nine accidents. This is considered low with only one of those accidents reportedly resulting in a slight injury.”
