The City of Ballarat council says 30kmh speed limits on Wendouree Parade are a possibility amid increasing swan fatalities near the city's most frequented lake.
It comes as a reckless driver killed yet another swan at Lake Wendouree on the evening of September 7, 2025.
The black swan's death is the third reported by this masthead in less than two months, as wildlife rescuers plead with the council to take action before more birds suffer.
Lake Wendouree resident Shane Jackman discovered the latest fatality on Wendouree Parade near Dowling Street between 5pm and 6pm on Sunday while driving home.
He said the dying swan was abandoned in the middle of the road, and while he carried it closer to the lake, it died shortly after.
"When it was on the road, it was probably in the throes of dying," he said.
"It would have happened within a minute or two of me getting there ... someone has clearly bowled it over and then just took off.
"No one had pulled over, and there were no cars in front of me as I was going along there."
Mr Jackman also said he believed the driver had been distracted or had killed the swan deliberately, as visibility on Sunday evening wasn't an issue.
"That sort of stuff shouldn't happen," he said.
"I've lived here for eight years and never seen a dead swan just be cleaned up like that."
In light of the latest incident, City of Ballarat infrastructure and environment director Bridget Wetherall told The Courier that the council was attempting to address the issue.
She said new variable message signs (VMS) had been installed in four locations around the lake, tracking people's speed and collecting data.
According to Ms Wetherall, the council has also completed a two-week car counting trial on Wendouree Parade, which will provide more information on driver behaviour.
"Unless we have video evidence, it's really hard for us to determine what's happened, who's at fault, or what we can potentially do differently," she said.
"We're already starting to get some live data through to help determine whether speeding is an issue.
"So we will be able to have some new data to then determine whether there's an opportunity to change things."
While Ms Wetherall called speed limit changes a "process" due to having to go through the Department of Transport and Planning (DTP), she didn't rule out permanent speed reductions on Wendouree Parade.
"There has been some change to the speed zoning guidelines that the DTP has just released," she said.
"We're yet to see the specifics of that policy, so we're waiting for that, but saying that the 30kmh zone is really most relevant to schools and high pedestrian traffic areas.
"The 40kmh zone around the gardens, that might be a real candidate for 30kmh.
"There'll be part of the community that would love that and be part of the community that doesn't."
When saying driver behaviour was the most important factor in keeping swans safe, Ms Wetherall also stressed that swan deaths were a seasonal occurrence, with increased incidents occurring during Spring.
However, Ballarat wildlife rescuer Jessica Robertson contested this, saying swans were killed "all year round" at the lake.
"It's really upsetting, actually, because it's just going to keep happening," she said.
"There's nothing more we (volunteers) can do; we are doing everything we can as rescuers, as advocates, and it's just the people in authority are not doing enough."
"This has been going on for so many years, and we just keep getting these answers that are just not cutting it anymore, because they could have done something a long time ago, and they didn't."
While Ms Robertson was pleased the council had installed the VMS speed monitoring boards, she said speed cameras would make the most significant difference.
She said it was up to the council to recommend the speed cameras to a government authority and that it needed to take responsibility for protecting animals in the municipality.
Ms Robertson also said people needed to start reporting animal deaths to the police and recording people's number plates when incidents occur.
"The community is really upset about this; they're up in arms," she said.
"A lot of the community cares about this, and it's a few (people) that are doing the damage here.
"Rather than the council telling us what they can't do, why doesn't the council tell us how they're actually going to try and identify these people and stop it from happening?
"I really urge the community to start looking out for these bad drivers and dobbing them in, we need number plates.
"That's crucial, we need the community to really help us, but we also need the council to do their bit, and that is to protect the swans with the CCTV and the speed cameras."