Pleas to fix danger zone
Residents call for action on killer Birregurra intersection
VICROADS, police and council have met over a dangerous Birregurra intersection as pressure mounts from residents to “get something done” with a survey of the area set to start from next week.
Staggering the approaches, building a roundabout and installing permanent flashing signage were all put forward at as potential solutions at the meeting with VicRoads engineers working on a report of recommendation expected for release before then end of the month.
Colac Otway Mayor Joe McCracken said the changes were being treated as a top priority after the authorities, including senior police brass, walked the site last week.
“The outcome of that meeting is that VicRoads has committed to coming up with a report that details what the options are.
“My understanding is that it would be completed within a couple of weeks.
“We were able to walk through the site and look at that landscape, the crest heading south – a particular prob- lem there – and there was still the remnants of the accidents which was pretty confronting as well.”
A petition circulating parts of the southwest has garnered hundreds of signatures after a death and the hospitalisation of 12 roads users in just 72 hours from Christmas Eve.
Cr McCracken said he had also raised particular concern about the intersection of Cape Otway and Deans Marsh roads, where a crash was recently caught on dash cam.
“It shouldn’t take a fatality for something to get done,” he said.
“I take my hat off to the likes of (Barwon Downs) CFA captain Gavin Brien who has really put his heart and soul into this campaign.”
VicRoads regional director for the South West, Mark Koliba, said a survey of the area would take place from next week.
“Next week we will begin a detailed survey of the intersection which will then allow us to develop some options for a long-term solution for the site,” he said.
“We will work with the community as we develop these options. ”
Batesford man George Hullo, 52, was killed when his car was involved in a crash at the intersection at BirregurraForrest and Colac-Lorne roads on Boxing Day — two days after an accident at the same site left two people in hospital.
It followed mounting frustration from locals who said they’d raised the issue more than a year earlier.
Captain Brien last week said he had written to politicians 18 months ago appealing for something to be done to fix the problem.
And earlier this month, hundreds of residents gathered to call on all levels of government to act on the killer country intersection.