State of disrepair
Disrepair will cause deaths unless action is taken
Opinion RACHEL Schutze tells firsthand of the moment she hit a pothole and, for a brief moment, lost control of her vehicle. ‘‘It was really frightening.’’
IT’S a rare Sunday morning when we are all in the house and there are no sporting commitments to be honoured.
On these occasions, we will bundle the children into the car and head out to have breakfast down the coast.
We are 20 minutes from Barwon Heads and about the same from Portarlington. Both of these destinations, among others on the coast, do great breakfasts. Where we end up is usually settled by a vote, or, if a community market is simultaneously occurring in the area, that will be the decider.
And so it was that I was driving towards the coast recently with the tribe aboard, breakfast-bound.
We were on the Barwon Heads road close to the roundabout entrance to Barwon Heads. We were travelling just shy of the 80km/h speed limit.
I moved over towards the left of the designated lane as a response to an oncoming car overtaking another car on the other side of the road.
And that’s when I hit a pothole and for a brief moment, lost control of the vehicle. It was really frightening. I drive a big four-wheel-drive vehicle that has a solid centre of gravity, and it felt like the back of the car was temporarily moving at a different angle to the rest of the vehicle. I was able to decrease speed and wrest back control of the car. We proceeded to breakfast shaken but not harmed. This happened not long after the
Geelong Advertiser launched a Facebook page on the issue of potholes in Geelong.
More than 200 people posted comments about the state of disrepair of Geelong roads and the increase in prevalence of dangerous potholes within hours of the page being launched.
On September 12, the member for Bellarine, Lisa Neville, made an adjournment statement in State Parliament about the issue, saying: ‘‘Some of the Bellarine’s significant roads and highways are in a disgraceful state.
‘‘Following heavy rains and floods, sections of some of our most heavily used roads now have uneven surfaces, crumbling road edges and potholes that are dangerous.
‘‘The potential for accidents and general damage to vehicles is of increasing concern to residents.’’
State Transport Minister Terry Mulder, in responding to Ms Neville’s comments, said among other things: ‘‘VicRoads is required to repair (or alternatively make safe with appropriate signage) any pothole considered a hazard.
‘‘Where sections of the road are extensively affected by potholes, larger and more expensive repairs can be undertaken.
‘‘These repairs are prioritised for works in future programs’’.
Damien Codognotto, spokesman for the Independent Riders Group, wrote to Maurice Blackburn Lawyers about the issue of potholes on Victorian roads from the perspective of his organisation’s members.
He said: ‘‘The neglect of our road environment is costing ordinary Victorians and their insurance companies a lot of money.
‘‘In some cases, it is costing road users their lives.’’
Probably many of you are reading this and saying: ‘‘So, what’s new?’’
I can tell you that the frightening experience I had was very new to me and one I don’t want to repeat or have repeated by someone else.
What has prompted me to write this perspective piece is that when I got to the cafe that day, I was chatting about our near-miss with the waitress.
Her response was to roll her eyes and say words to this effect: ‘‘Yeah, it’s terrible isn’t it?
‘‘The roads are so bad down here that people have come to accept it as normal. It will take someone to die for something to be done. You mark my words.’’ So here are my words: VicRoads and City of Greater Geelong, please, please, please make those roads and their safety your absolute priority before someone is not as lucky as we were that Sunday morning.