Speed lowered to create safer roads

Lower speed limits have been introduced on a number of high-speed rural roads in an effort to create a safer road network.

VicRoads has reduced 100 km/hour speed limits to 80 km/hour on seven high-speed roads in Gippsland.

The new 80 km/hour speed zones were rolled out throughout December, and include two roads in Baw Baw Shire – Trafalgar-Mirboo North Rd and Mt Baw Baw Tourist Rd.

VicRoads Eastern Region Planning Manager Pas Monacella said speed was the major causal factor in a quarter of serious injury crashes and lives lost on Gippsland roads.

He said evidence-based research speaks volumes: if we drive at a safer speed, travel times increase minimally and the chances of serious injuries or being killed decrease dramatically.

“Replacing the 100 km/h speed limits with an 80 km/h limit reduces the chances of serious injury or death by 60 per cent, but the increase in travel time is minimal,” he said.

The estimated increased travel time for Mirboo North Trafalgar Rd is just over 70 seconds for the lower speed limit; while it will be about two minutes over the length of the trip along Mt Baw Baw Rd.

Mr Monacella said these arterial roads had a long history of devastating trauma for the community.

The road safety initiative is a vital component of the Victorian Road Safety Strategy and Action Plan: Towards Zero 2016-2020, which has a five-year goal of reducing road-related deaths by 20 per cent and serious injuries by 15 per cent.

Between January 1994 and June 2016, there were 404 casualty crashes on the TrafalgarMirboo North Rd and Mt Baw Baw Rd and three roads within South Gippsland Shire, in which 16 people died.

A further 219 people were seriously injured, 373 sustained short-term injuries and 303 were lucky to escape injury.

On the Mt Baw Baw Rd alone, there were 94 casualty crashes during this period.

Five people lost their lives and 39 people suffered serious life-changing injuries; 76 sustained short-term injuries.

Mr Monacella said motorists were four times more likely to die on a rural road than they were on a metropolitan road, and that two out of every three people killed or seriously injured were country people.

“These human costs are not an acceptable price to pay for our road network. Each death or serious injury on our roads has far reaching effects,” Mr Monacella said.

He said in Gippsland more than half of the crashes that result in death or serious injury are run-off-road crashes.

“There are many inherent dangers along rural roads – trees, curves, extreme weather, fog, wildlife – so travelling at high speeds, such as 100km/h, is extremely dangerous, even for drivers on familiar local roads,” Mr Monacella said.

“If you leave the road the impact can be catastrophic.”

The lower speed limits were implemented by VicRoads were in consultation with key stakeholders including Baw Baw Shire and Victoria Police.