By Ava Cashmore
Steven Mitchell and Neil Lukies, owner of the Bunyip veterinary clinic and its building respectively, are both worried and fed up with the lack of safety measures on the Hope street and Nar Nar Goon-Longwarry Rd intersection.
“It really affects us because a lot of accidents and near misses occur. It’s really stressful for all of our staff,” said Steven.
“You hear a big bang and you don’t know what you’ll see. We had to drag a screaming girl out of an upside down car.”
Steven explained he had spoked to several people in the last few years who have caused an accident asking them “why they didn’t stop”, their responses being that they didn’t realise that it was an intersection.
“Google Maps has begun to send people along this road instead of the Pakenham bypass, meaning people who don’t know the area well are driving through the intersection and causing accidents.”
“With all the current road works next to the intersection, it obscures peoples vision, a cop would fine every second person for not stopping at the stop sign.”
Neil went on to explain that he had reached out to the council for improved safety measures and a few weeks later, “the bigger stop signs appeared, and that weekend there was another smash”.
Neil, Steven and some of the other veterinary staff stressed that more dramatic and effective measures need to be taken to minimise these accidents, such as a roundabout or simply speed humps.
The veterinary clinic itself suffered damage when another accident occurred at the intersection, “taking out a fence, two air conditioning units and putting a hole in the front wall.”
“Just imagine it was a truck that had crashed into us”, said Steven.
Liberal Member for Narracan Wayne Farnham has taken up the cause pledging to address the safety issues with the State Government in hopes of mitigating the current risks to community safety.
“The current state of the intersection at Nar Nar Goon – Longwarry Road and Bunyip-Modella Road continues to be ignored by the Allan Labor Government”, said Wayne.
When contacted for comment, a Department of Transport and Planning spokesperson said “road safety is our number one priority.”
“Crews were on the ground late last year to upgrade and repair pavement marking and signs at the intersection to improve safety for everyone who uses the road.”
But as Neil stated, this measure was ineffective.
