Accident waiting to happen - concern over speeding cars along Stratford street

Ron and Anna Singh with their children (l-r) Sharuq (7), Jasveer (2) and Priya (6). Not pictured is the SIngh's youngest child, Aanya (5 months) who was sleeping.

A Stratford father of four says speeding drivers are an "accident waiting to happen" on Cordelia St.

Ron Singh is worried by the speed with which cars go past his home, where his children are often playing in the garden.

"We are always out with the children, but the speed with which some cars come past, if one was to lose control they would easily come off the road and into the garden."

The cars are clearly travelling at well over the 50km/h limit on the road he says.

"The road is nice and wide, and it is a straight length so I can see the temptation to speed up or race along it. But there is a speed limit for a reason and it is clearly being broken."

Children on the street often play together, he says, and take their scooters and pushbikes onto the footpath.

"I worry about it. We stay with them and are always watching, but that won't stop an accident happening if a car loses control at that speed."

The cars themselves, says Singh, often appear to be unsafe to drive.

"They aren't new cars or well maintained. We see a lot of very old, very bad condition cars driving along here, it seems like it is where some drivers come to race a bit and show off. The state the cars are in, they won't do well in a crash."

Singh and his wife Anna wanted to put up signs up to remind drivers to obey the speed limit, but the local council told him it was a police matter.

"Obviously, with the situation around Covid-19, the police are going to be busy right now, but once that changes, I would like to talk to the police and see if they can have a bit more of a presence in the area and maybe that would deter the drivers from using this street as a personal race track."