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Who are we?
We are a group of residents in Heidelberg in Victoria, Australia, who have come together to encourage our local community and the Banyule Council to support the calls of 62 residents to solve traffic problems.
What are we asking for?
In August, 2004, 62 residents signed the following petition to the Banyule Council:
"We, the undersigned life-long residents of Hawdon St, Brown St and surrounding neighbourhood wish to bring to Council’s attention the increasing danger which is associated with the high number of speeding vehicles and constantly increasing traffic in our local streets.
Residents acknowledge that Council have attempted to address the traffic problems in the past, but we are concerned that funding has not been allocated to complete traffic treatment works as promised by our two local ward councillors over recent years.
The speed hump that was installed in Brown St is not having any real impact on the speed and level of traffic continuing to use our local streets as ‘rat-runs’.
We, the local residents, call on Council to immediately give an undertaking to:
- By October 2004, install the three remaining speed humps in our section of Hawdon St, as promised.
- By August 2004, begin a thorough investigation involving a genuine consultative process with local residents to examine how to solve these traffic problems in the long term.
As in duty bound, we your petitioners ever pray."
The petition was noted at a council meeting on 6 September, 2004.
At the council meeting we clarified our second proposal, stating that this would involve council committing to a local area traffic management plan for the area bounded by Upper Heidelberg Rd., Banksia St., Rosanna Rd., and Lower Plenty Rd.
Press Release: 22 September 2004
Children’s safety of concern in Heidelberg - Residents.
Children walking to school and other pedestrians are attracting the concern of residents because of traffic conditions Hawdon St. Mr. Jack Roberts, who recently presented a petition to the Banyule Council on behalf of the 62 signatories, says that the residents are concerned about safety, have been unhappy about the situation for years and believe that its time to make some funding available to solve the problem. Residents have launched a campaign which has already drawn the support of the State Member for Ivanhoe, Mr. Craig Langdon.
Mr Roberts stated that the residents are most concerned about the following issues:
- Child safety – "Many children live in the area who walk to and from the Heidelberg State School. For example, kids walk down Hawdon St. twice a day as part of the Banyule Council ‘walking school bus’ program. We believe that installation of the speed humps would allow these children to avoid the hazardous Brown St. intersection. On the weekends and after school, children also have a habit of chasing after balls onto the road, riding their bikes in the area and generally doing what kids do. There have also been reports of several dangerous incidents involving speeding cars which we are investigating," Mr. Roberts said.
- Elderly and disabled. "There are several disabled people in the street. Because of the traffic it’s often very difficult for these people to cross the road and they are often abused by motorists when they try," he said.
- Hazardous living space. "There are parked cars, there is an undulating roadway and a busy intersection with a very narrow street. So using Hawdon St. can be a harrowing and dangerous experience for residents. On top of this, residents are often abused by motorists passing through the suburb, simply for slowing to turn into their driveways", he said.
- Rat-run or living space? – These and similar rat-running problems have been reported throughout Heidelberg. Councils for other Melbourne suburbs such as Carlton, Surrey Hills and Clifton Hill have installed a variety of works over many years to protect their residents’ living space. "But we’re not asking the council to block off our street – we are simply asking for the speed reduction devices that were promised to us by the former council ten years ago" he said.
In their petition, residents have called on council to make funding available immediately to install the three remaining speed humps in their section of Hawdon St. which they say is a simple, inexpensive solution to the problems. They have also called on council to undertake a thorough study of traffic conditions in the neighbourhood so that these problems can be addressed in the long term.
"We are a bit concerned about the effects of speeding ‘rat-runners’, who seem to be all over the neighbourhood, especially at peak times", Mr. Roberts stated. Council installed speed humps around ten years ago but, unfortunately three were left out just north of the Brown St. intersection and none were placed on the south side. As a result, "we are very concerned about disrespectful motorists who career down our street on either side of the intersection often at dangerously high and illegal speeds", he said.
Residents have been asking council for these speed humps for at least six years. In their petition, they acknowledged that their two local ward councilors have expressed support for them over the past several years but they expressed concern that council had not allocated funding for the promised traffic treatment works.
The State Member for Ivanhoe, Mr. Craig Langdon, has recently written to Hawdon St. residents to register his support for their campaign. "You have my full support in your endeavours", he wrote, "I can’t believe Council hasn’t installed the three speed humps in Hawdon St."
The Banyule Council has agreed to investigate the Hawdon St. residents proposals for speed humps. However, they have not yet agreed to undertake a wider study of traffic conditions in Heidelberg.
The campaign arose out of the decision by the residents in the street to sign the petition. "We collected 62 signatures from the entire area which will be effected by these works – in the 400m of roadway – which was stunning. We will also be running a very democratic campaign in that everyone in the affected area will have access to the decision-making in how we proceed," Mr. Roberts said. The campaign has been dubbed, "Save Hawdon St." and is aimed at encouraging the local community and the council to support the residents’ traffic management proposals.
Contact us
contact Jack Roberts
ph: 9234 9530
e-mail: savehawdonst@optusnet.com.au