Signs make it safer by river
SAFETY along the banks of the Barwon River has been enhanced thanks to the addition of 46 marker signs.
The newly installed signs — 23 on each side of the river — enable people to more accurately alert emergency services to an incident.
The project has been a sixyear labour of love for the Rotary Club of Geelong East.
Tony Alsop, the club’s project manager (construction), said the project was already reaping dividends.
“During the second day of installing the signs we were already being told by people walking past that they had told other people ‘be careful, we saw a snake near the BAR026 sign’,” he said.
“To date there have been 20 different calls to 000 that have quoted the emergency marker number — including snake bites, cardiac arrests, asthma attacks, seizures, an overdose, theft, multiple cyclist collisions, stolen vehicles and people throwing rocks off a bridge, to name a few.”
Mr Alsop said the estimated average number of people using the parks and river was 5000 per day.
“If half of these people only see one sign of the total 46 signs then the number of times a sign will be seen over a year is just under one million times — obviously a cyclist would see many more signs,” he said.
“With the considerable use of these waterways, parks and paths the need for improved safety is obvious and these signs will reduce the response time of emergency services.”
Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority executive director of operations Patrick Berry praised the Rotary-led initiative.
“Being aware of green emergency markers could make a difference in an emergency when every second counts, particularly this Easter long weekend with people going away and being outdoors,” he said.
“One of the challengers 000 operators face is locating callers who are in open spaces with no set addresses, for example, when bushwalking, hiking or swimming.”