No-one listened to council pleas

By Bridget Brady and
CASEY council’s repeated requests to upgrade the intersection at the scene of Sunday morning’s horror crash have fallen on deaf ears for seven years.
The News can reveal the council had repeatedly requested that traffic lights be installed at the corner of Ormond and Hallam roads since November, 2002.
The danger posed by the intersection was most recently highlighted during a meeting between the council and VicRoads in March this year, mayor Geoff Ablett said.
“Since the letter in November 2002, the council has continued to advocate for the installation of traffic lights at the intersection at regular briefings with VicRoads,” Cr Ablett said.
A government spokesman said traffic lights were ear-marked for the intersection and VicRoads was investigating the best option for the site.
“The government has no current plans to duplicate Hallam Road,” the spokesman said.
Community group leaders and residents were devastated by the fatalities, but not surprised the smash occurred on Hallam Road.
They said the road and the intersection had been a problem for years.
Hampton Park Progress Association president and roads committee member Warren Calder said the whole of Hallam Road needed to be duplicated.
“It’s a bad road and we’ve got the traffic counts and everything to do something about it,” he said.
Mr Calder said public meetings about the road had been held in the past, and another would be organised in the near future to encourage the government to put the project on a higher priority list.
“I don’t like to be taking advantage of it, but this is the sort of thing that could make people take more notice of the road.”
Residents of Ormond Road agreed that traffic lights needed to be installed.
Mark Penrose said accidents occurred too often at the intersection.
“I have been thinking something needs to be done since I moved here four years ago,” Mr Penrose said.
“It’s a shame something like this has to happen before it gets attention.”
Mr Penrose said accidents were more frequent as new houses were built in the area.
Melissa Nathan said the intersection was “seriously dangerous”.
“I come in and out of this road every day and it’s scary,” she said.
“People fly up and down Hallam Road all of the time.”
Ms Nathan said it was easy for drivers to get frustrated at the intersection because high volumes of traffic made for a long wait when turning.