It was an overcast January day in 2006 and Mr George, then a red P-plater, was navigating the “potholed to all hell” roundabout at Pearson Street and Dobney Avenue.

As if controlled by a malevolent force, his car suddenly lost traction.

The inexperienced driver over-corrected and his fate was sealed.

The car lost control and crashed through a fence, plummeting south into an overflowing stormwater drain. His body wasn’t hurt but his ego – and his car – were.

Fast forward almost 10 years to the day and a 75-year-old driver experienced an almost identical accident on Wednesday. He, too, walked away virtually unscathed. But the dramatic crash has reignited calls for the dreaded double roundabout at Bunnings to be urgently upgraded.

The threat posed by the closely aligned roundabouts should not be measured by crash statistics alone, as damning as they are.

A Daily Advertiser poll last year found the majority of respondents believed they were the most dangerous roundabouts in Wagga.

Anyone forced to maneuver them regularly can recount a near-miss horror story.

The rapid growth on the south-western fringe of Wagga in recent years has only served to exacerbate the problem.

Big corporations wield serious power when it comes to dealing with legislators.

They know how prudent ease of entry and exit to and from businesses are.

But even then, it seems incongruous that council or the RMS allowed Bunnings to construct a commercial driveway off what was already a roundabout blackspot.

Common sense dictates both the Bunnings entry and exit should be confined to Saxon Street. 

The hardware goliath was sent a series of specific questions by The Daily Advertiser about the dangers posed by the driveway.

Rather than answer the questions, they sent a mealy-mouthed response. It’s not good enough.

Wagga City Council should at least be commended for recognising the area as the city’s most problematic traffic hotspot. But the wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly.

Rather than have the whole process hogtied by consultants’ report and draft strategies, council would do well to listen to the people and put the wheels in motion.