Ocean Grove residents are pleading with council to install a pedestrian crossing on Kingston Downs Drive before it’s too late.
The road, which services the rapidly expanding Kingston Estate, is used by schoolchildren riding and walking to two local primary schools.
Elderly residents are also frustrated at having to cross the increasingly busy road to access Marketplace Shopping Centre.
The Voice went to Kingston Downs Drive at 3.30pm on a school day and saw at least 80 primary school children struggling to cross the road during a 20-minute period.
Kingston Estate communications manager Allason Lynch said there was an urgent need for a crossing.
“As the developer, we’ve known that there was a need for this for the last four years,” she told the Voice.
“We get complaints from motorists, residents and parents who come into our office asking ‘why isn’t there a crossing?’.
“Four years ago we approached council and they told us there wasn’t a need but it’s evident now when you’ve got buses and cars, there’s a need for a crossing.”
A petition calling on council to install at least one pedestrian crossing on the road has attracted more than 450 signatures.
Reg Costin is nearly 90 and lives on Kingston Downs Drive, but must cross the street to access the supermarket.
He uses a walking frame and can’t use the footpath because he cannot navigate the curb so he walks along the bicycle lane before attempting the cross the road.
“It’s the only outlet of all the Kingston subdivision right through to the new shopping centre,” he said.
“There’s no other road, this is the one and only outlet.
“It’s a terribly busy intersection. It (the crossing) would be great for everyone and it would slow the traffic a bit. The traffic here of an evening, they go like buggery.”
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