In a grim coincidence on the very day The Courier ran a story exploring the need for increased safety measures on Remembrance Drive, another young man was killed on Bacchus Marsh’s Avenue of Honour. No doubt other factors were involved to initiate the collision but the similarity lies in all too common combination of speed, not necessarily outside the speed limit, and the vehicle hitting a tree with that associated force. Even a cursory look at the road toll statistics shows cars into trees make up a vast number of the fatalities and serious injuries which cost our communities so much and the majority of these are year after year, are in rural areas.
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Now instinctive as a solution might seem to simply cut down all the trees, it is neither practical nor potentially even possible. Inflaming avenue of honour committees, whole communities, not to mention the statewide environmental destruction indicate safety solutions must lie elsewhere.
Accepting that large roadside trees are a ubiquitous part of rural roads, it is more expedient to either change the driver behavior on such roads and this includes potential lowering speed limits or to change the roads.
Roadside barriers are one such innovation that have already saved countless lives and like the technology within cars that has done the same; it is advances in design and material of these barriers that are getting better every year. Despite the largely unfounded fear motorcyclist have of wire barriers, these are the latest engineering innovation that has proven to be a lifesaver both here and in multiple countries across the world. Nothing will eliminate driver error and the many associated problems on country roads like fatigue or animals but these flexible barriers that absorb some of a vehicles are a safety net. They have also been shown to be of enormous value as mid-road barriers to avoid head-on collisions.
But they are expensive. A $300 million commitment by the State government will see very few of these high traffic roads even get a glimpse. The Western Freeway due to traffic volumes will take priority. The only other local road that has been earmarked is the stretch of the Midland Highway to Creswick. But any local driver could name a dozen other roads, including the Gleaning Highway, the Midland to Geelong that are seriously in need of upgrades.
The long list of priority roads needs to be foreseeable reality, not a distant wishlist and that will take a lot more resources. Many more will die in their absence.
