By KATHRYN BERMINGHAM
EMOTION ran high at last night’s Cardinia Shire Council meeting as residents pleaded with Central Ward councillors to act urgently on the issue of “relentless” hooning on Ahern Road in Pakenham.
A number of residents from the area, who wish not to be named for fear of repercussion, attended the council after submitting a petition at the June meeting.
The 24-signature petition requested that the council install speed bumps at the roundabout connecting Ahern Road and Eagle Drive in Pakenham due to frequent hooning in the area.
“We are relentlessly harassed by the endless hoons driving extremely fast on Ahern Road and Eagle Drive and some of these vehicles go around the roundabout skidding two or three times very loudly and very fast,” it reads.
“There have been occasions where they have lost control and have crashed into some trees on our nature strips.”
One woman said the loud hooning was extremely disruptive to her sick and elderly mother, yet the council had been largely unresponsive on the issue.
“It is extremely unfair that as ratepayers we are subjected to this 24/7 and then I had to brave the cold to get signatures from some of our neighbours to get someone to listen to us.”
Last night a recommendation was passed that a traffic survey of the roundabout be conducted and a report prepared for the August meeting.
The residents believe the issue should be escalated as a matter of urgency, with neighbours selling their homes due to the issue.
They approached Councillor George Blenkhorn at the conclusion of the meeting to plead their case, but said they were met with familiar indifference.
“He doesn’t want to take responsibility. This is causing huge distress and no-one wants to take responsibility,” the resident said.
The Pakenham Gazette has obtained footage of hooning on Ahern Road. To view the footage and join the conversation, visit www.facebook.com/PakenhamGazette
View video captured by one of the residents here:
