ANOTHER LIFE LOST
Call for upgrade after third Midland Hwy fatality this year
AUTHORITIES are investigating the cause of a single-vehicle crash that claimed the life of an 18-year-old Bannockburn woman on a notorious stretch of the Midland Highway at Gheringhap yesterday.
Paramedics and an off-duty medic performed CPR on the probationary driver for almost an hour but couldn’t save the teen’s life.
Golden Plains Shire councillor Nathan Hansford, who attended yesterday’s crash in his role as an SES incident controller, said the condition of the road was “appalling” and called for urgent upgrades.
I NVESTIGATIONS are under way to determine the cause of a crash that killed an 18-year-old Bannockburn woman on a notorious stretch of the Midland Highway.
Emergency services were called to the highway after reports a woman’s Geelongbound car had struck a tree at Gheringhap, shortly before 11.30am yesterday.
Paramedics and an off-duty medic performed CPR for al- most an hour but the teen died at the scene.
Locals have called for upgrades to the stretch that links Geelong and Golden Plains after years of deadly crashes.
Acting Sergeant Tony Creanor urged anyone who witnessed the crash to contact police.
“The 18-year-old female was travelling south on the Midland Highway and for some reason, yet to be determined, she’s left the side of the road and collided with a tree,” Sgt Creanor said.
“Paramedics have worked with her for a considerable period of time but unfortunately she’s been unable to be revived and died at the scene.”
The 100km/h stretch of road has been the scene of many serious accidents, including: IN APRIL an elderly man died in a two-car smash involving a caravan just kilometres away at Bannockburn. A second occupant, an elderly woman, died later in hospital; IN FEBRUARY a two-car collision closed the Midland Highway near Meredith with two people hospitalised; and IN 2015 a woman, 52, died after the car she was driving hit a tree at Gheringhap.
Golden Plains Shire councillor Nathan Hansford attended yesterday’s crash in his role as an SES incident controller.
He labelled the road’s condition “appalling” and said urgent upgrades were required on the Midland Highway and the Hamilton Highway.
“VicRoads have a plan in place to duplicate the Midland Highway from the Geelong Ring Road to Bannockburn, but that’s created a lot of community angst in Batesford. It would require homes to be compulsorily acquired,” he said. “It would be better and cheaper to duplicate the Hamilton Highway and use that as a bypass for Batesford.”
VicRoads is undertaking a planning study into upgrades for the Geelong-to-Bannockburn stretch of the Midland Highway with overtaking lanes being installed between Bannockburn and Meredith.
Mr Hansford said frustrated drivers stuck behind slower vehicles were often seen trying to overtake across double white lines.