EDITORIAL

Another black day a grim road reminder

THEY say a picture can tell a thousand words.

A shattered shell of a hire car on the side of the highway, a car door impaled on a large truck’s bull bar, suitcases scattered roadside and a clearly injured man slumped in shock and pain.

These were the scenes that greeted emergency workers at Mount Moriac yesterday morning after a group of Chinese tourists seemingly ran a stop sign on the now notorious Cape Otway Road and their car collided with a truck travelling at speed along the highway.

These were also the images captured by Geelong Advertiser photographer Alison Wynd who, like many of the emergency workers, was surely feeling a semblance of deja vu. because the story these scenes conveyed, has been all too familiar in recent years.

An unfortunate by-product of our popularity as a tourist destination has been the prevalence of road accidents by vehicles heading to and from the Great Ocean Road. And there is no coincidence that a large proportion of these accidents has involved international drivers, many of whom have little or no English language skills.

The issue became so critical several years ago that it inspired community rallies, petitions and the eventual erection of some Chinese language signs along the Great Ocean Road.

It has been a key issue for several of our elected representatives as well, with former Corangamite MP and now federal senator Sarah Henderson calling for a review into the issue and state Upper House MP Bev McArthur going as far as saying international tourists should be forced to undertake a driving test before they leave Avalon Airport.

Compulsory road safety videos, GPS in tourists’ native language and foreign language road signs have all been flagged as initiatives to tackle the problem.

But on the eve of another tourist season when traffic volumes will again balloon on our roads, the issue is clearly far from resolved.

Yesterday’s accident should serve as a warning that we need to be extra vigilant coming into summer and that there is an ongoing issue of people who are unfamiliar with our road rules and conditions placing themselves and others in danger.