Flavelle St, Gipps St, Canada Bay: Locals concerned about ‘death trap’ intersection

Inner west residents are living in fear of what they say is a scary intersection, with a local councillor calling it a “death trap” and a traffic engineer declaring it is “not safe”.

A crashes at the intersection of Flavelle and Gipps St, Concord.

An inner west intersection has been labelled a “death trap”, following what a councillor has described as dozens of serious incidents that have left residents scared to cross the street.

Locals have been living in fear of the intersection of Flavelle and Gipps streets, in Concord, where the crash toll continues to rise.

Recent incidents include a vehicle being flipped, head-on collisions and accidents involving pedestrians.

Locals claim the intersection has a variety of issues, including a lack of signage, lighting problems and the speed limit.

Driving instructor Peter Hales, a local resident of 15 years, said he had become concerned for his daughter’s safety when she began to walk home alone.

A car that flipped over at the intersection in December 2022.

“I’ve got a daughter going into year seven next year,” he said.

“She’s probably going to have to get her own way to school.

The intersection in question, shown on a map.

“I think she’s going to be fine, but that intersection does concern us.

“Even I feel uncomfortable crossing the road there. I’ll normally walk further up the street.”

At a meeting last week, Canada Bay councillors endorsed a motion to investigate the history of incident sat the intersection and come up with ways to improve pedestrian safety and safe crossing.

Councillor Andrew Ferguson said after a decade of concern, he hoped the council could now get an outcome to improve the lives of those residents.

A head-on crash at the intersection in May 2024.

“The intersection is a death trap … there have been dozens of serious accidents,” he said.

“Hopefully council will now act and get an outcome that improves safety at this intersection and more broadly across our local council area.

“This is about the council getting back to basics and giving priority to pedestrian and motorist safety.”

One of the main concerns on the road is the right turn from Flavelle St into Gipps St, which has caused numerous accidents.

Locals have been complaining for more than a decade about the “death trap”.

Traffic engineer Meead Saberi, who leads a laboratory at the Research Centre for Integrated Transport Innovation, moved a few doors down from Flavelle St in August and said his first impressions of the intersection were troubling.

“Our first thought was ‘this intersection is hard to cross’,” the UNSW associate professor said.

“That was the first impression of the neighbourhood and I’m a traffic engineer, so I look for that kind of stuff.

“You don’t need to be an expert though, it’s not a safe place to cross ... some of the residents have kids, so I can imagine how worried they are for them to walk home.”

Another incident at the intersection.

Mr Meead told this masthead dropping the speed limit should be one of the first changes to the intersection.

However, Gipps St is a state road, meaning it falls under the jurisdiction of Transport for NSW and not Canada Bay Council.

The road is currently capped at 60km/h, but locals want the speed limit to drop to 50km/h.

Another resident who lives near the intersection has documented the dates and time of crashes, even taking pictures.

A car is towed after a crash at the intersection.

That resident claims there have been five serious road accidents, with four attended by emergency services, between December 2022 and September 2024.

However, Transport for NSW said it only had records of one crash in the relevant area in the last five years.

“This involved two vehicles colliding while one was leaving a parking space on Gipps St in 2022,” a spokeswoman said.

“However, some crashes are not reported to police and those involved will exchange details and drive on.

“The safety of road users and other members of the public is paramount and TfNSW will undertake investigations into the intersection to see if any treatment is suitable to improve road safety.”

In 2022, Transport for NSW also responded to an email from a concerned local, noting there had been six reported crashes at or within 30 metres of the intersection between April 2017 and March 2022.