They were placed on the roadway to stop cars mounting the footpath. But the rectangular blocks at various points around Leura’s carpark are having an adverse effect – tripping up pedestrians.
The owner of Leura Vintage in the Strand Arcade, Susan Mitchell, is now keeping a log of the more serious injuries suffered by people who don’t notice the wheel stoppers until they’ve stumbled over them.
She said she once had to call an ambulance for an injured woman and has seen many cases of grazed elbows, knees and even faces.
After her repeated requests, council removed one of the blocks from the parking bay right in front of her shop. But there are still six others in the row.
“It’s just bringing the council’s attention to what’s happening because it isn’t a system that’s safe,” she said.
Eleanor Barker from the nearby Maharani Boutique said “people just trip all the time”.
She spent 10 years in the premises which Leura Vintage now occupies and saw many people stumble on the blocks.
“Once I had a woman who hit her teeth and they were dropping out in my shop,” she said.
“It’s been pretty horrific. People don’t see it [the wheel stoppers] because they’re looking in the shop windows.”
She said after complaints, council did paint the blocks yellow but that wasn’t enough.
“The chances of cars running into the shops are pretty slim but people are tripping all the time, and it’s so preventable,” she said.
A council spokeswoman confirmed that the Leura Village Association had lodged a customer service request about the issue and council had also received reports from others about the wheel stops.
“Although the wheel stops do contrast with the colour of the pavement in the carpark, we acknowledge that they do not seem to be obvious enough to prevent pedestrians from tripping.
“Council is currently working to resolve this issue as soon as possible. Work is progressing on a design to reconfigure the kerb line, parking and the pedestrian ramp which will eliminate the need for the wheel stops,” she said.
But as the stops are in place to minimise the potential for a vehicle to mount the footpath, council isn’t able to remove them until there is an alternative solution in place, she said.
“A date for the completion of this work is not known at this time.”