Thornbury is one of Melbourne's many friendly residential suburbs, with a population of around 17,000. 350 of those residents will be taking part in a garage sale with a special purpose tomorrow, October 14.
The residents of Rossmoyne Street will all be putting their unwanted goods out for sale tomorrow. The participants are organising the garage sale with the backing of Darebin City Council to support the Drive With Your Heart campaign. The aim of the campaign is to encourage drivers to drive with care and moderate their speed in the suburban streets.
The Drive With Your Heart Campaign has been shown to be effective in reducing the impact of road traffic on the lives of people living in the community. The plan is to make the streets appear as social spaces where drivers should be aware of their effect on the pedestrians using the space. This is in contrast with the image of a suburban street as a corridor inviting drivers to speed.
The impression of a busy neighbourhood street is promoted by such activities as kids playing, chalk drawings on the street, sports, parties, and barbecues, as well as neighbours just interacting with each other. No doubt the planning of poster printing to promote the garage sale will be one of the first community activities supporting the campaign. Anyone interested in being one of the brochure printers supporting the Drive With Your Heart Campaign can download the PDF from the Darebin Council website.
