A BOURKELANDS resident is pushing to fix a dangerous intersection that has become more like "a game of Russian Roulette" during peak hour traffic.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Resident of the southern suburb Kate Lloyd said the intersection of Berembee and Red Hill roads is a "serious accident waiting to happen" as peak hour traffic turns right across two-lanes travelling at high speeds of 70 kilometres an hour.
Mrs Lloyd said the area is "a traffic nightmare" with more than 10 cars bumper-to-bumper waiting to turn out of the suburb in the mornings, afternoons and weekends.
Last month alone she witnessed three near collisions, but could imagine this number is much higher.
"The population of Bourkelands is chockas now, there is no more land and there are a lot of young families living here, who want to go to the nearby school and they take a right turn across traffic," she said.
"There are cars packed behind us, we see them reversing to go use the left turn lane - if that's not a danger in itself - and then you have people doing u-turns to go back out another way."
Mrs Lloyd has called on Wagga City Council to consider options such as a roundabout to slow down cars to create a safer intersection for those using Berembee Road.
"I can't sit back and do nothing, we have seen the close impacts and I don't want to see a family wiped out one day and think 'I should've done something," she said.
IN OTHER NEWS:
Wagga councillor Tim Koschel said he is not sure what the solution could be, but it is a dangerous intersection that needs attention.
After seeing it first-hand, Cr Koschel said there are some drivers using Red Hill Road as a racetrack.
Not only is this dangerous, he said the drivers' visibility is impacted by sunlight at certain points of the day when driving over the hill's crest.
"They go through it quite quickly and because you are trying to turn across traffic, you have cars coming at you at 70 kilometres an hour and can hit you a lot quicker and it is easy to misjudge it," he said.
Cr Koschel said a reduction to Red Hill Road's speed limit between Bourke Street and Plumpton Road from 70 to 50 kilometres an hour could be a solution - and one that he would support.
"That stretch is quite urbanised and right in the middle of houses," he said.
"If it was a 50 speed limit - you have a school zone in there, two roundabouts, multiple intersections coming off some of the most populated areas in Wagga - it would make more sense."