Road hazard real problem
Tourist drivers ‘erratic’, says police chief
VICTORIA’S highest ranking police officer has acknowledged tourist routes including the Great Ocean Road have a problem with erratic driving.
Community concern over driver education has continued to mount after disturbing footage emerged of a car driving into oncoming traffic at Torquay at the weekend.
Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton told 3AW yesterday that erratic driving was problematic along tourist hot spots, including the Great Ocean Road and at Phillip Island.
“It is an issue certainly in the summer during the period. It’s always an issue down the holiday roads (including) the (Great) Ocean Road,” Mr Ashton said. “We get a huge influx of tourists every year and the driving can be very erratic sometimes and our highway patrols are always reporting in on such cases.”
Many motorists have blamed international drivers and tourists for a perceived in- crease in erratic behaviour along the coast, with Liberal MP Andrew Katos suggesting a mandatory test or program should be completed by all drivers wanting to hire a car.
But VicRoads does not support making international drivers sit an entry exam or imposing any additional restrictions on them before gaining a temporary licence to drive in Victoria.
According to 2016 VicRoads data, just 1.7 per cent of all crashes on Victorian roads involved international drivers. However, other media has reported 21 per cent of all crashes on the Great Ocean Road involved international tourists.
Corangamite MP Sarah Henderson said “dramatic action” was required to change the statistics and called for online testing of local road laws
But Minister for Tourism and Major Events John Eren, one of those responsible for the rollout of the State Government’s driver education campaign, said the state was delivering a range of measures to help international visitors travel safely.
“(The Torquay) incident is another stark reminder that there’s always more we can do to educate overseas drivers — and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Mr Eren said yesterday.
“Instead of pointing fingers and politicising the near loss of lives, Sarah Henderson ought to work co-operatively with us to make our roads safer for all users.”
VicRoads had installed more than 100 ‘Drive on Left’ signs and 150 line-marked directional arrows along the Great Ocean Road and on busy inland routes.
Multi-lingual electronic signs at roadwork sites have been installed on the Great Ocean Road and at the Twelve Apostles to alert international drivers to local traffic conditions.
A Victoria Police media spokesman confirmed police deploy extra resources to the Surf Coast during peak times.
He said Victoria Police had, and was, continuing to work alongside VicRoads to improve signage and road safety around iconic sites.