Cessnock City Council has requested the Roads and Maritime Services investigate making improvements to the intersection, and Mr. Duncan and Mr. Musgrove want both council and the State Government to make it a top priority.

Mr. Duncan, whose 13-year-old son Jayde died in a car accident on Duffie Drive in 2009, said he had “lost count” of the number of accidents he had encountered near the intersection.

“How many more deaths, how many crashes will it take?” said Mr. Duncan, who also lost a friend in a motorcycle accident there in the mid-1990s.

“We just want something done.”

Mr. Musgrove has started a Facebook group called “Let’s Get a Roundabout on Duffie Drive and the Mad Mile” that already has more than 400 members. He has put together a petition that is available at a number of Vincent Street businesses and can be signed online at www. change.org (search for Cessnock roundabout).

“We are hoping that they see how many people really do want this to happen,” Mr. Duncan said.

“We don’t want them to put it off, or put it in the too-hard basket,” Mr. Musgrove added.

The most recent accident at the intersection occurred on Thursday, July 5.

Cessnock District Rescue Squad public relations officer Jason Sattler said the intersection is a known black spot and should be afforded a high priority with regards to its upgrade.

“The rescue squad has attended many accidents with people trapped at this intersection over the years and I am sure there have been countless others that although people were injured did not require the rescue squad’s services,” Mr. Sattler said.