Call for lights at junction

By Rebecca Fraser
A EUMEMMERRING teenager has launched a passionate plea for traffic lights to be installed at a notorious intersection after she was involved in a horrific car collision last year.
Jessica Heus’s life changed forever last August when she was seriously injured in a car accident at the intersection of Olive Road and the Princes Highway in Eumemmerring.
The 19-year-old was airlifted to the Royal Melbourne Hospital and still faces another six months of rehabilitation.
Ms Heus suffered a minor stroke as a result of the accident and needs further plastic surgery to help repair facial scars.
The former university student also experiences permanent memory loss, weakness in the left side of her body and problems with balance, stability and coordination as well as a serious back complaint.
She also lacks concentration and experiences mental and physically fatigue.
Ms Heus’s family and four other Eumemmerring residents have sent River Gum Ward councillor Wayne Smith letters expressing their concerns about the intersection.
These were presented to council last Tuesday and Ms Heus said it was crucial that VicRoads install lights at the busy intersection before someone else was killed.
Her parents, Rodney and Joan Heus, wrote a letter and also hold grave fears for motorists using the intersection.
They have lived in the family’s Eumemmerring home for 42 years, and for 20 years Rodney was a volunteer fireman with Doveton fire brigade.
He said he had been involved in road construction for 27 years and said the Olive Road and Princes Highway intersection was not safe and was in need of traffic lights.
The couple said they could have very well lost their daughter as a result of the accident.
Ms Hues said residents had known for years that the intersection was an accident waiting to happen and she was now too scared to go anywhere near the stretch of road.
“Our house is just 500 metres from Olive Road but I will go around the back streets to avoid that intersection.
“It is traumatic for me to see or even hear of accidents there because I am afraid that a life will be taken in the near future.
“It took two fatalities for anything to be done about the intersection of Doveton Avenue and the Princes Highway.
“Is it going to take that again for a simple set of traffic lights to be put in Olive Road?” she said.
Steve Brown, VicRoads Metro South East regional manager, said in the five-year period ending June 2005, there had been 10 recorded casualty crashes at the intersection.
“Since the opening of the Hallam Bypass in 2003, the number of crashes has reduced significantly.
“VicRoads is aware that two crashes have occurred in the second half of 2005 and will be reviewing road safety at the location.
“Any proposals that may be developed would then be considered for funding under a future funding program.
“The timing of any works will depend on their relative priority compared with the many other proposals competing for funding across the State,” he said.