Call for improvements and lower speed on Walhalla Rd
Police have called for a lower speed limit on the Walhalla Rd in the wake of two serious collisions within weeks of each other, one of them claiming the life of a Drouin teenager.
Baw Baw Highway Patrol sergeant Andy Milbourne has recommended the speed limit be reduced to 60 kilometres per hour along the road from Walhalla to the Tyers-Walhalla Rd intersection.
While acknowledging speed was not a factor in the two recent collisions, he said the road surface and road infrastructure did not support an 80 kilometre per hour zone.
Sgt Milbourne said the two collisions occurred within the 40 kilometre zone just south of the Walhalla township.
Sgt Milbourne was part of an on-site meeting with Regional Roads Victoria representatives and road safety consultants last week.
Volunteer first responders and residents also met with politicians last week and have called on RRV to urgently improve road safety at Walhalla.
In both recent accidents, vehicles plunged 30 metres down the embankment off Walhalla Rd towards Stringers Creek. A 19-year-old Drouin man who was a back seat passenger in a vehicle, died in a collision on June 19. Three others in the vehicle, including the driver, sustained serious injuries.
There were no serious injuries in the second collision on July 10.
Sgt Milbourne said the meeting last week requested RRV prepare short, medium and long term safety options to improve the road.
“I have also recommended it should be 60 all the way through to the end. That road is not suitable to be 80 kilometres per hour. The surface and infrastructure is not good.
“Speed has not been the issue but it should be 60 all the way,” he said.
Sgt Milbourne said lack of space on the road edge made safety barriers difficult to install.
He said additional white marker posts had been installed at the site of the collisions but he had requested more posts to create a greater driver awareness.
In areas around Walhalla, Noojee and Neerim South, where drivers often go four-wheeldriving before returning to bitumen roads, sgt Milbourne encouraged drivers to assess their vehicle tyres.
He said driving on bitumen surfaces with mud terrain tyres could increase the risk of losing traction on the road, resulting in crashes.
Sgt Milbourne said four-wheel-drive motorists should change tyres between bush settings and roads.
After meeting with Member for Eastern Victoria Melina Bath in Walhalla last week, first responders and residents co-signed a letter by Ms Bath to Roads and Road Safety Minister Ben Carroll demanding action on three key points.
They want a full safety assessment of Walhalla Rd, RRV to meet with the community and agree on a road safety action plan, provide costings to implement safety upgrades that meet the community’s expectation and immediate action taken to fix the problems.
Ms Bath said there were multiple road safety hazards on Walhalla Rd and the government must listen when first responders say there are serious road safety issues.
“There is no margin for error, the 10-kilometre road into Walhalla is treacherous”.
It has hair pin bends with limited roadside safety barriers and an uneven surface with potholes and collapsing edges, she said.
Ms Bath said concerns about the road had been raised for many years but upgrades were labelled too difficult and too expensive.
“Country Victorians refuse to accept compromised road safety and a solution must be found by RRV”.
She stated that there had been 22 per cent more fatalities in regional areas than in Melbourne this year despite country people representing only 25 per cent of the state’s population.
The Walhalla fatal collision is still being investigated by Major Collisions Unit detectives.