New pedestrian crossing on Nicholson St a step forward for campaign
The death of a grandmother on this Coburg road in 2016 sparked a community fight to protect pedestrians. Now a new crosssing has finally been installed.
North West
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A three-year safety campaign has taken a step forward, with the opening of a Coburg pedestrian crossing.
The Nicholson St crossing turned its lights on earlier this month.
It was born from a community campaign following the death of Coburg grandmother Helene Khouzi, who was hit by a car as she crossed the road in October 2016.
Helen Kratzmann said she joined the campaign because she felt she had to do something.
“I just knew I had to do something about it, I had to act because so many people’s lives are at risk,” she said.
Ms Kratzmann created the Pedestrian Safety for Nicholson Street Coburg Facebook page and began documenting near misses and crashes while lobbying Moreland Council, VicRoads and the State Government for upgrades.
She said the crossing was just the beginning for upgrades in the area and she was grateful for action.
“We feel privileged to have someone consider our community (and) the crossing is a great start,” she said.
Spokesman Jordy Jeffery-Bailey said the government would continue to work on improvements to Nicholson St.
“We’ve heard locals concerns about pedestrian safety on Nicholson St and that’s why we’ve acted — this new pedestrian crossing will make it safer and easier for everybody to cross the road,” he said.
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Ms Kratzmann said further upgrades on the road and the Nicholson-Holmes-Moreland intersection should include yellow road surfaces and red light cameras.
A speed limit reduction from 60km/h on Nicholson St was considered by VicRoads but was found to not be consistent with traffic.
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