Fatal Dapto accident zone to come under council investigation

A 74-year-old man was struck and killed by a car on Lakelands Drive moments after buying himself some lunch and pears to feed the birds on May 28, 2024.

The 27-year-old* female driver of the car involved underwent mandatory testing and has not been charged by police.

The cause of this crash remains before the Coroner, however locals said the hill on Lakelands Drive, where it meets Wyndarra Way and Parkside Drive, is a known hotspot for hoons and bad driver behaviour.

Following calls from the community for safety upgrades, Wollongong councillors Linda Campbell and Elisha Aitken have brought the matter to council.

"The first point of call is the police have to complete their investigation before any remedial action would commence," Cr Campbell said.

After that, council's internal Fatal Crash Investigation Framework starts and it looks at options for the stretch of road.

Council's road safety and transport technical officers, along with the senior transport team representative will conduct an on-site inspection.

They will consider crash details for the location and proposed recommendations, which may include a submission to Transport for NSW for fatal crash corrective funding.

"Once the investigation is finalised, all short-term recommendations proposed will be actioned immediately with medium-long actions included in council's future program of work/education initiatives and or funding submissions," Cr Campbell said.

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"There's a process that will be followed, it'll be fully investigated, and then recommendations will be adopted.

"It's important to remember the people directly involved in this [recent fatal crash] have got their own trauma to deal with and we don't want to do anything that adds to that. We let the process run its course."

* NSW Police initially reported the driver as a 47-year-old woman.

This busy intersection is located at the bottom of a hill, there's two preschools within 200 metres, and two primary schools a little further down the road.

At the top of the hill, 100 metres away, there's an IGA supermarket, bottle shop and squash court centre.

Data for the 2018-22 reporting period, shows four accidents, they occurred in December 2019 (minor injuries), December 2020 (no injuries), September 2021 (no injuries) and May 2022 (moderate injuries). This doesn't include minor bingles where police were not called.

There's been a number of earlier accidents at the same intersection, including on January 23, 2012, when a teenage boy was struck by a car.

Members of the public are urged to make an anonymous report of any street racing and other hoon offences to Crime Stoppers online or by calling 1800 333 000.

"Let let's not wait for fatality for people to have their say, people can be proactive and use that facility anytime," Cr Campbell said.

Council's traffic engineers receive reports of hoon activity and consider this feedback in any proposed changes to council-managed roads.