Fatality at is “only a matter of time” …
MOST drivers know to give way to the right at a roundabout – but it is a little hard when you can’t see it.
The roundabout at the top of High Street in Berwick is a death trap waiting to happen according to one business owner who watches the mayhem daily.
“The amount of things I have seen,” Catherine Hall, owner of Eighty-One restaurant said.
“I have even seen people come up the hill and turn right (into the roundabout) so they are going around the wrong way.”
Ms Hall and her staff regularly watch the cars at the intersection and see many near-misses and small accidents but it is only a matter of time before there is a fatality, she said.
Ms Hall recalls a number of accidents where pedestrians, and her patrons, could have been “skittled” by an out of control car.
“A woman got clipped by another car, she came up onto the kerb and footpath and drove past the window of Eighty-One,” she said. “Anyone coming down the footpath would have been killed.”
Ms Hall stood on the corner of Wheeler and High streets for 30 minutes with a City of Casey council officer during the Christmas period and saw three possible accidents.
“That was a quiet time and within half an hour we saw a mother and daughter nearly get collected walking across the crossing,” she said. “The drivers just don’t slow down.”
Ms Hall believes the problem is the structure of the roundabout, speeding drivers and lack of signage.
“When you look to the right to give way, being such a big roundabout, many drivers look to the top right to see if any cars are coming because to the right it’s a blind spot,” she said. “So they miss any cars coming out from the median strip (the centre car park).”
To slow drivers down, Ms Hall believes the intersection needs either traffic lights or rumble strips and better signage.
“If there were traffic lights, they would be slowing down and would be going 40km/h instead of 60km/h,” she said. “To me, it’s a no brainer.”
A spokesperson for VicRoads, the responsibly authority for High Street, said all request for the installation of traffic signals and/or improvement works were prioritised based on how it would improve safety.
“VicRoads considers factors such as the number and type of vehicles using the intersection, the need to cater for pedestrians, the historical safety record of the site, the impact that treating the intersection would have on the performance of the surrounding road network and the implementation costs,” the spokesperson said.
“VicRoads’ evaluation of the need for improvement works at this intersection, based on the above criteria, indicates that it is unlikely to be implemented in the short term. However, the site will continue to be monitored and considered for future funding.”
City of Casey transport manager Paul Hamilton said that the council had previously raised operational concerns regarding the roundabout with VicRoads.
