By CASEY NEILL
EDWARD Avenue in Dandenong is so choked with parked cars that it’s an accident waiting to happen, residents say.
But City of Greater Dandenong won’t consider increasing parking restrictions for at least six months.
Resident Colin Gibbons said the problem started when a new mental health centre opened on Cleeland Street about five months ago.
“When they started building it we asked that a traffic impact study be done,” he said.
“Nobody seems to know where it is or what the figures were on it.
“None of the residents were spoken to.”
Mr Gibbons said staff and visitors parked in the narrow residential streets around the centre.
Parking on one side of Edward Avenue is restricted to two hours from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, and there’s no parking on the other side between 8.30am and 4.30pm on weekdays.
“After 4.30pm they’re there on both sides of the street,” Mr Gibbons said.
“It becomes a one-way street.
“Residents are actually having to do a three-point turn to get into their driveway.”
He said weekend parking was completely unrestricted which is when the problem was at its worst.
Mr Gibbons said a fire truck recently drove 50 metres into the street before parked cars made it too narrow and the truck had to reverse out.
“If there’s a fire in the street, what’s going to happen?” he said.
He said there was a primary school around the corner but it was no longer safe for children to play in the street and that he now parked at a neighbour’s home on the street’s corner to make sure he could get out.
Cars regularly meet nose to nose and are unable to pass each other.
“We’ve have had a couple of people want to come to blows,” he said.
“Somebody’s going to get hurt here.”
Following complaints, the council sent letters to residents asking if they wanted tougher parking restrictions.
Mr Gibbons said most of his neighbours told him they didn’t understand it so didn’t reply.
“The council has taken their non-response as ‘we don’t want to have the parking changed’,” he said.
“This is wrong.”
A resident who’s lived on the street for almost 30 years, who did not want to be named, said there’d never been such a dangerous problem with parking before.
He puts bollards out in the street to clear a path to exit his property.
City of Greater Dandenong engineering services director Bruce Rendall said the council sought community feedback following a resident request for extended restrictions in Edward Avenue.
“The community feedback did not support a change to the restrictions currently in place,” he said.
“Council would be happy to reinvestigate this issue in six months’ time and would be happy to meet with Mr Gibbons about his concerns.”
