Hi there, My name is Carly, I am a 26 year old mum to a 9 month baby girl. I have been a Clifton Springs resident since 2021 and absolutely love the community we live in. Our area, however, is lacking in something that most would assume is a basic yet important part of our community… footpaths.
When I first moved here, it’s something that I picked up on straight away. Trying to walk the dog and simply not feel safe in doing so. When I gave birth to my daughter in August last year, I started to feel really anxious about doing something as simple as going for a walk. At all of my checkups, I was being encouraged to walk and exercise to help my body heal, but walking in our suburb with a pram is near impossible. Sure, I could walk along the bypass, that track is wonderful, but having to walk along whitcombes road half on the road/ half on the nature strip really makes wanting to walk difficult. I find myself constantly wondering which side of the road is safer to walk on. Is it walking into oncoming traffic so I can see when I need to push my pram off the road and wait for cars to pass? This Can often mean walking along Whitcombes takes 20 minutes to do. Does it mean walking on the left side walking with the traffic but having to look behind me every 5-10 seconds to make sure there are no cars coming? Cars shouldn’t have to drive in the other lane to allow for pedestrians and pedestrians shouldn’t have to walk on the road. It’s simply not safe.
Our families are from Bendigo, and when they come and visit, they don’t feel safe taking their granddaughter for a walk. It is commented on by visiting friends and family, how ridiculous it is that there are no footpaths. There are comments that we are so behind the rest of Victoria because we don’t have something as simple as footpaths! Upon meeting other local mums in my mums group, every single one of them said they don’t feel safe walking their babies in Clifton springs. They would rather drive to a different suburb in order to feel safe. It’s quite sad really that nothing has been done.
When my daughter was about 8 weeks old I was walking her along Edgewater Drive, where the both of us were almost hit by a car who was driving too quick/was distracted. This driver proceeded to lean out of his window and hurl abuse at me for walking on the road, but I had no other option. I understand that in this circumstance it was an unsafe driver who was the perpetrator, but what is going to take to make change? What’s it going to take to build footpaths to protect the people of Clifton Springs? Will it take an unsafe driver hitting and seriously injuring (or worse!) a mother and her baby? Or a person with a disability? Or anyone?
Exercise is so incredibly important for a persons physical, mental and social wellbeing. I would love to feel safe enough to walk around my neighbourhood without the fear of something happening to myself, or my husband, or my daughter, or my dog. Please, from one of many desperate mothers, do something. Build some safe footpaths so people can feel safe in doing the right thing by themselves. If the people in our community were asked to vote on adding footpaths and safe spaces for exercise, I could guarantee that majority of them would say yes.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read my experiences, I truly hope this helps to step a foot in the right direction.
Carly
