By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Worried residents and staff at an early learning centre have called on VicRoads to avert a looming catastrophe on a 100km/h section of Wellington Road, Narre Warren East.
“Nearly every day someone says an accident is waiting to happen,” Little Joeys Learning Centre director Emma Robinson says.
“When you’re carrying precious cargo (children), you don’t want to be taking chances.”
Two years ago, the centre and its 100-plus parents unsuccessfully petitioned for VicRoads to reduce the speed limit and install a right-hand turning lane into their centre.
Parents and staff turning right off Wellington Road to access the centre are scared of being rammed by following eastbound traffic, Ms Robinson says.
Drivers approach from behind on a rising bend and are blind to the stationary, turning cars.
“I feel frightened that someone behind me won’t know I’m turning.
“When I’m indicating, I give them plenty of notice. But you’re just sitting there with children in the car…”
Ms Robinson argues that speeds should be reduced to 80 km/h – just like adjoining sections near Clematis to the east and a T-intersection at Berwick Road to the west.
Neighbours Tracey and John Wade moved to the area for a “tree change”.
They recently – and fruitlessly – wrote to VicRoads about the dangers posed by drivers that “fly down this stretch of road”.
“We have no service road entry to our property and I have had enough of being tail-gated, abused, tooted at and (blinding) lights flashed at me for turning into my own driveway,” Ms Wade says.
Wildlife crossing the road, such as deer, kangaroos and wombats, pose a further risk to motorists, she said.
In the five years up to 30 June, there was one recorded casualty on the 100km/h section – about 90 metres west of the Monash Road intersection.
However across a wider section between Berwick Road and Clematis, there have been one fatality and four serious injuries since July 2014.
Earlier this year, two cars collided in the road’s 80km/h zone to the west, Ms Wade says.
Eastern Victoria MP Edward O’Donohue asked in Parliament last month for Roads Minister Luke Donnellan to investigate the road’s speed limit.
“The needs of residents have to be heard and understood,” Mr O’Donohue said.
Monbulk Liberal candidate John Schurink said the road should be appropriately speed-limited in the “largely residential” area.
As a former paramedic, he’d attended plenty of speed-related crashes on Wellington Road.
“It beggars belief that this area remains 100km/h.”
VicRoads movement and safety regional manager Sasha Yarwood said the 100 km/h speed limit was assessed as consistent with other similar roads across the state.
The factors for speed limit reduction include the number and types of vehicles, the number of access points, the road’s environment, nearby speed zones and safety record.
“We welcome all community input and we’re happy to meet with residents and the early learning centre to discuss their concerns and explore any potential safety improvements.”
