By BRIDGET COOK
HAMPTON Park Seniors’ Club president Neil Shepard has challenged Premier Denis Napthine to try and cross Pound Road on a mobility scooter – a nightmare he claims local residents are facing every day.
The call came as the Hampton Park community expressed their anger this week over the lack of action from VicRoads to install a pedestrian crossing along Pound Road.
Last year, the seniors’ centre tabled a petition with 565 signatures calling for the urgent installation of a crossing near their centre and the bowls club.
Mr Shepard said it was desperately needed as many elderly residents from the seniors centre, bowls club and nearby retirement village needed to cross the busy road to access the Hampton Park shopping centre, bus stop and doctors.
He said, as the head petitioner, he had not heard anything from VicRoads in more than three months.
“My greatest fear is that the longer we wait, the more risk that a pedestrian is going to get hit or lose their life on this road all because of a lack of urgency from the State Government and VicRoads,” he said.
“I want the local residents who signed this petition to know that we are still fighting for them.
“I invite the Premier or the Roads Minister to come out here and try and cross that road, particularly in a mobility scooter, and see what residents have to put up with.
“VicRoads say they’ve got no money for this, but what’s human life worth?”
Local resident Angela Gardner said a crossing was something the community had been campaigning for since 1997.
“I sit in my office and can see the road and see people dodging the traffic,” she said.
“There are two ladies in mobility scooters who have to try and cross that regularly and it’s frightening.
“When I cross the road it can take me a quarter of an hour just to cross safely.”
VicRoads Metropolitan South East acting regional director Frank De Santis said VicRoads had undertaken detailed investigations at this site to determine the most appropriate treatment option to improve pedestrian access.
“As an outcome of these investigations, a proposal to install pedestrian-operated signals on Pound Road near Highland Avenue will be considered for future funding in the context of statewide priorities,” he said.
