Deadly stretch of road for wildlife

A SMALL stretch of the iconic Great Ocean Road is a slaughterhouse for Australian wildlife, according to local residents campaigning for the road’s speed limit to be dropped.

Animal activist and president of the Otway Wildlife Group in Apollo Bay, Willie Bedford, said 30 animals — including koalas and joeys — had been killed along an 8km stretch at Marengo since January 2019.

For close to a decade, Ms Bedford has campaigned for the 100km/h limit to reduced by 20km/h, in line with other sections of the picturesque route.

Leading animal protection organisation Animals Australia has joined forces with the Otway Wildlife Group in urging the state government to review the road’s speed limit.

The area is also the site of three school bus stops, 62 residential driveways and seven intersecting roads.

Ms Bedford said the speed rose from 60km/h through the Marengo township to 100km/h on the outskirts.

“We’ve seen several wallabies, koalas, possums and lots of birds and echidnas being struck and killed or injured in that particular 100km/h zone,” Ms Bedford said.

“It doesn’t make sense, the rest of the road is 80km/h.”

Advocates say Centre for Automotive Safety Research dats shows cutting limits by just 10km/h reduces collisions by 20 per cent.

Animals Australia spokeswoman Lisa Chalk said it would only take vehicles 2.53 minutes longer to travel this section if the limit was 80km/h.

A spokesman for Roads Minister Ben Carroll said Regional Roads Victoria was undertaking a comprehensive review of the speed limit set on the Great Ocean Road between Apollo Bay and Port Campbell.

RRV regional director Vanessa Schernickau said the review would ensure a consistent approach to speed limits along the Great Ocean Road.

“We’re always happy to listen to proposals from the community, with our key priority always to ensure that any change is safe for all road users,” she said.