AN accident-prone intersection that complaining Narrabundah locals have tried for more than year to get fixed has recorded another smash involving three cars this afternoon (July 30) with a passer-by reporting seeing blood on the ground.

Fire, police and ambulance personnel were called to the scene.

In March last year a group of concerned residents went to see City Services Minister Chris Steel and his senior bureaucrats from Roads ACT about the “black spot” intersection of La Perouse Street and Carnegie Crescent. They say that not a month goes by without a collision there.

“There was lots of nodding and writing notes, but no action. We followed up with letters. No action. We pulled together a video and sent it to them. No action,” group member Timothy DeWan told “CityNews” in early June.

“Large building developments in the inner south are contributing hundreds more cars through this intersection.

“Speeding vehicles, large trucks and traffic congestion are creating dangerous bottlenecks in the morning and the afternoon.

“Most worryingly, our young children from surrounding schools including Red Hill Primary [plus Canberra Grammar and Telopea Park] as well as local, elderly senior citizens are forced to attempt to navigate across this dangerous intersection every day, weaving through the traffic in the morning and afternoon to get to their destinations. 

“This intersection was built in the early ’60s for a much smaller Canberra community. It is now unfit for purpose.” 

The residents want the traffic congestion reduced, speed at the four approaches to the intersection reduced and improved capacity for pedestrians to safely cross the intersection.

This year, as the collisions keep clocking up, the residents initiated a petition to the ACT Legislative Assembly. It attracted more than 650 signatures and, despite being tabled, the minister still has three months more before he needs to even respond to it.

“We are all just neighbours in our community who have come together to address this awful situation,” says Timothy. “We want the crashes to stop. We don’t want anyone to die. We thought this was the role of government.”