By Brendan Rees
A Casey Councillor has declared residents will “continue to suffer” unless more police resources are provided by the State Government in tackling hoon behaviour.
Cr Sam Aziz said “The big issue here is actually Victoria Police rather than speed calming devices.”
It comes after council conducted traffic surveys along Josephine Avenue and Tinks Road amid community concerns of speeding drivers.
Speed and volume data showed the majority of motorists travelled within the speed limits, according to a council document.
According to VicRoads data there has been one crash at the intersection of Tinks Road and Josephine Avenue resulting in one person injured in the five year period between 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2018.
But Cr Aziz said the State Government had to do their part and provide Casey with more police numbers.
“The police are doing their absolute best in our local area,” he said, but added: “our residents continue to suffer and without visible policing.”
“You also get things like home invasions on the up as well. It’s very frustrating.
“It’s no good for the State Government to come back and say ‘this is a policing matter.’ Sure it is but you’ve got to give the police more resources to do their job.
“What we need is more police resources to enforce the existing speed limits,” Cr Aziz said.
In April, Victoria Police announced 32 police officers were headed to the Casey police service area.
Senior Constable Jason Hession of Casey Highway Patrol said most drivers complied with the speed limit along Josephine Avenue.
He said cars were “banked up bumper to bumper” during peak times.
“There might be the occasional one in 200 cars that might be an idiot but they can’t all speed, it’s bumper to bumper if it’s school times,” he said.
“You just can’t move in there. If it’s outside those times it might be worth having a look at, but if it’s in school times, I’ve been out there, you can’t move.
“We’ll continue to head out down, make sure people obeying the speed limit and not school zones.”
Sen Cons Hession reminded all drivers to slow down, particularly around schools: “Ten kilometres an hour can make a huge difference in braking.”
Councillors voted to monitor the traffic conditions on Josephine Avenue and Tinks Road at their 16 April meeting.
Council has written Casey Highway Patrol about the community’s concerns of driver behaviour on these roads and surrounding area.
