Resident slams Charles Sturt Council’s ‘absurd’ fix for simple roundabout problem at Henley Beach

A council wants to spend $150,000 to fix a troublesome roundabout where cars and cyclists occasionally collide. Locals say all that’s needed is some secateurs.

Taxpayers are set to pay $150,000 to tackle a Henley Beach “black spot” locals say could be fixed by simply trimming back an overgrown plant.

In a recent letter, Charles Sturt Council told residents the roundabout at the intersection of Cudmore Terrace and North Street would receive a federally funded makeover after three cyclists were injured in car crashes at the site over five years.

On Tuesday, The Advertiser visited to observe cars using the roundabout, confirming that diosma plants partially obscured drivers’ views of other cars, hiding their indicators, from all four exits.

Henley Beach resident Tim Dodds, 66, said the plants had compromised the safety of the roundabout, almost entirely hiding smaller cars.

Taxpayers will pay to fix a Henley Beach roundabout's "black spot", but a local resident, former police officer Tim Dodds, says a simpler solution would be to remove a few plants. Picture: Dean Martin

“The council says it’s a black spot; well, it’s not,” the retired police officer said. “There are much worse black spots in the state.

“Rather than spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on redesigning the whole area, just take the plants away and you won’t have the issue.”

He said he often heard honks from his house because frustrated drivers at the roundabout could not see each other, while his friends had reported witnessing near misses.

The council’s redesign is set to add speed cushions, painted bicycle “sharrows” (bike symbols with arrows), a bicycle off-ramp on the northern side and upgraded pedestrian ramps.

Charles Sturt Council chief executive Paul Sutton denied the upgrade could be avoided by trimming or removing the diosma plants.

“After a review of crash details at this site, all incidents occurred due to a driver failing to give way to a cyclist approaching from their right,” he said.

The giant shrub in the middle of the roundabout. Picture: Dean Martin

“No cyclists were approaching from the opposite side of the roundabout. The tree and plants in the centre of the roundabout do not restrict view to the right.

“We conduct regular pruning and maintenance on trees and greenery across our city.”

Mr Sutton said the proposed changes aimed to slow drivers on all approaches to the roundabout by allowing more time to see and give way to cyclists and other road users.

Mr Dodds said the council should remove the plants and trial the change for 12 months before committing to the “absurd” upgrade.

“I’m a great advocate for road safety,” he said. “We don’t want any crashes.

“There’ve been three cyclist accidents in five years; well, as sad as that is, I don’t think that’s a big number and it’s certainly not a black spot.”

The upgrade is funded through the federal Black Spot program and Charles Sturt Council is hoping to receive federal approval for the plans by April, before completing the works over the school holidays.