Kids’ no-go zone

By Bridget Brady
YOU won’t see any children playing on the front lawn or riding their bikes along Cherryhills Drive in Cranbourne- their parents won’t let them.
A group of residents of the street in the Brookland Greens estate fear their children are in danger of being killed as hoons speed through their road, which they say is designed like a racetrack.
The residents have experienced a few near misses, with drivers losing control and ending up on their front lawns. They want speed humps installed before it’s too late, but the council said the road didn’t qualify.
Patricia Smith said her brother, who is a welder, had seen how dangerous the situation was and joked that he would build the speed humps himself.
Karen Davis has lived in her home for eight years and said things had gradually got worse.
“We’re sick of it. We all want speed humps,” she said.
“If they don’t injure one of the kids they’re going to injure themselves.”
Before Christmas, Ms Davis woke on a Sunday morning to find two bottles had been thrown at her car. As she was reporting the matter to police about 10.30am, a driver lost control of their car and ended up on Ms Davis’ front lawn- a few metres from where she stood in her driveway.
Peter Meehan experienced a similar close call, when a driver lost control and crashed into his front lawn and almost entered the living room.
“A couple of speed humps would eliminate the problem,” Mr Meehan said
“For the safety of the kids, more than anything else.”
Mr Meehan said he would not let his nine-year-old daughter cross the small street on her own.
Ms Davis said the erratic behaviour of some drivers often meant she would get abused by drivers behind her for doing the speed limit and driving carefully while on her way in or out of the estate.
Casey’s manager of transport Paul Hamilton said a traffic survey was done at Cherryhills Drive in September 2010 and revealed it didn’t meet the criteria for installing calming devices. But Mr Hamilton said the council would continue to monitor the road.
Last year there were six calls to council’s hoon hotline in relation to Cherryhills Drive.