Residents in small towns are reeling over the amount of heavy vehicles tearing through their villages at excessive speeds.
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Dubbed the 'Soul of the Centre', tiny Tottenham lies on the Bogan Way between Nyngan and Tullamore, with its town home to roughly 190-odd residents.
![Resident shares visual evidence of heavy vehicles parked in Tottenham's town centre on Umang Street after ignoring bypass route, and says the issue is causing health and safety problems for locals. Pictures supplied. Resident shares visual evidence of heavy vehicles parked in Tottenham's town centre on Umang Street after ignoring bypass route, and says the issue is causing health and safety problems for locals. Pictures supplied.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/156153420/1f01e2cd-e1f7-4a36-8c3e-5fcf4730723a.png/r0_0_1020_573_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Sarina Sharp, who moved there nine years ago, commented on a recent ACM article about speeding in small towns.
Reaching out to the resident, she agreed to share more on the issue and have Tottenham voices heard.
'But not any longer'
She said a petition was circulated back in 2014 to introduce a bypass route there.
Successful, it was to detour heavy vehicles away from the town's centre.
But many truck drivers have stopped using the new road option, she said; and it's causing great upset in the village.
"For a time, most heavy vehicles were abiding by that detour, but not any longer," Ms Sharp said.
"The speeds at which these heavy trucks are going is shaking beautiful art deco buildings off their foundations and causing major cracking.
"My home is one of [those places] being slowly destroyed by the constant vibrations."
What is going on there?
Like most country-based villages, the main strip (Umang Street) in Tottenham has a speed limit of 50 kilometres-per-hour.
Though Ms Sharp said b-double trucks are "doing way more than that", clocking speeds ranging anywhere from 70 to 80km/h.
"Even 100km/h if driving through after dark, especially during harvest time," she said.
"Livestock road trains often park right in the middle of town, and the smells and the faeces are spread all over the place."
Ms Sharp noted that most drivers fail to clean their tyres before entering the town, with banks of red dust often "piling up" where shoppers park their cars.
It's believed that some residents are now experiencing health complications as a result.
![Resident shares visual evidence of heavy vehicles parked in Tottenham's town centre on Umang Street. Picture supplied. Resident shares visual evidence of heavy vehicles parked in Tottenham's town centre on Umang Street. Picture supplied.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/156153420/3e3e81ce-fa29-4442-a50e-8b3367e9dfb9.png/r0_0_1020_573_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"This dust, having arrived in town from a farm full of livestock, carries the serious threat of Q fever," she said.
"It is also causing some people to suffer from bronchitis and even emphysema, [and] I am one of those people."
Litany of issues and 'near misses'
An example of other health (and noise) disturbances, Ms Sharp spoke of a driver who'd parked his large cattle truck within a few metres of a dwelling.
She said the resident, an elderly gentleman said to be dying from cancer, was forced to inhale HV and livestock fumes; along with blaring noise pollution from a still-running engine.
"The driver remained absent from his dirty, smelly truck for 40 minutes," she said, "and also parked on the wrong side of the street, taking up around a dozen parking spaces.
"So, breaking the law seems to go hand-in-hand with being totally oblivious of the lives they are impacting in this town with their selfish, inconsiderate behaviour."
Breaking the law seems to go hand-in-hand with being totally oblivious of the lives they are impacting in this town.
- Tottenham resident, Sarina Sharp on heavy vehicles not detouring.
Then there's the "near misses" - stories she shared of almost-fatal incidents between non-detouring trucks and pedestrians.
On one occasion, after an older male resident began to U-turn on a mobility scooter to head to the men's shed, Ms Sharp said the man was nearly run over.
"And it was only by good luck [the speeding b-double] didn't hit him, because he almost became roadkill," she said.
"But one day it won't be a case of a 'near miss', it will be a fatality."
Who will help us?
Past efforts from community members - who have urged HV drivers to bypass and detour around the main town - said they've sought help from local authorities and councillors.
Wanting their voices to be heard when it comes to those drivers not (illegally) parking in the main street, a recent suggestion tabled the idea of imposing a load limit on Umang and Bulbodney streets.
One day it won't be a case of a 'near miss', it will be a fatality.
- Tottenham resident, Sarina Sharp on fear of future problems.
This included lowering the maximum load limit to under 4-tonne, better detour signage on the Bogan Way, and to create a dedicated parking zone in Moodana Street - a new space which was rallied for by the local Lions Club, but (unfortunately) failed.
"This has been an ongoing problem in this town for nearly nine years," Ms Sharp said, "and nothing is being done to fix it."
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