By Aneeka Simonis
VICROADS expects to announce what short-term safety improvements they will undertake to improve fatal Kooweerup-Healesville Road in the next month.
Concerned residents and motorists took part in a community safety forum in September, voicing their concerns and safety improvement ideas for the notoriously dangerous road.
VicRoads have committed to undertake short-term safety works, likely including the installation of audio centreline tactile line marking.
“This line marking alerts drivers when they cross the centreline and is particularly effective in reducing run off road and head on crashes caused by distracted drivers, which is a concern along this particular road,” VicRoads regional director Aidan McGann said.
“We expect this evaluation to be completed by the end of the year and we will inform the community accordingly on these outcomes.”
The forum was sparked after the tragic death of 27-year-old Ryan Downs in May this year. Earlier in the year, another young motorist, Neisha McLean, 22, was also killed on the road.
A number of forum attendees appeared frustrated at the September consult, urging VicRoads to get on with the planned road duplication project.
However, VicRoads emphasised the costly road duplication project was many years down the track, suggesting short-term solutions including the installation of more signs and audio tactile linemarking would help improve the road’s safety in the short-term.
It was revealed at the forum that the fatal road – frequented by heavy trucks and tourists – barely reaches the required width minimum for roads, and that the average speed travelled exceeds the 90km/h limit.
Data shows the road’s width ranged from 3.1m to 3.5m, making it just 10cm wider than the bare minimum standard for Australian roads.
More than 2200 trucks alone are estimated to use the tight-squeeze of a single-lane road each day, close to double the state-wide average experienced on Victorian roads.
It features a dangerous three-kilometre s-bend area, which allows some overtaking.
Mr McGann said VicRoads was continuing to analyse feedback received at the forum.
Twenty-seven casualty crashes have occurred along the 9km section of Kooweerup-Healesville Road, Pakenham South, since 2011.
