The death of a P-plate driver on Lakeside Drive in Kanahooka prompted some residents to raise their concerns about a recently installed pedestrian refuge island.
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Dapto's Enrico Morosin, 17, died in a single-vehicle car accident on Tuesday night after he sped through the island, hit it and the gutter, then slammed into a tree.
All residents the Mercury spoke to on Lakeside Drive said reckless drivers used to fly down the road and continued to do so even after the refuge island was installed in May.
"Drivers always speed along here," one resident said. "This street is notorious.
"The refuge island made people slow down when it was first put in but then everyone got used to it.
"The refuge is the worst. It's useless. Motorbike riders and drivers just speed through it."
Another resident described seeing a bus driver hit the refuge recently because there was not enough room with cars parked nearby.
He believes the refuge should be bevelled because wheels bounce off it when a driver hits the island and then they try to over correct.
A Wollongong City Council spokeswoman said the reserve was well used by families and the crossing was constructed at the site near the reserve to provide a safe pedestrian connection between the park, shops and residential area.
"Its location not only provides pedestrians a safe connection at an otherwise informal crossing point but it also provides sufficient sight distance either side for road user awareness and visibility," she said.
"When deciding upon the refuges' location we also took into account the movement of vehicles using car parks at the reserve and nearby shops.
"The refuge should have the effect of slowing traffic as it narrows the carriageway, with clearly delineated signs and line-marking to highlight the pedestrian facility.
"Council will wait for the police report into the accident, which will identify the cause(s) and contributing factors of the crash, before considering any associated road or traffic improvements."
A resident said only some people used the island to cross the road but many continued to cross closer to the park.
"If the council want to get serious about reducing speed then they should put in a speed camera, even though I usually don't like them, or reduce the speed limit to 50km/h," he said.
"Some do 100km/h. And now we have seen the consequences. A 17 year old boy has died."
Many of the residents recalled a number of accidents that had occurred over the years.
One resident said a car damaged the front of her house. Others remembered when motorbike riders hit a power pole, went into a lake and onto a driveway.