"I've been living in Buninyong since the '70s and since then we've been asking for a bypass," said another, adding that her late husband, a truck driver, always said he'd be willing to drive five kilometres or more "just to avoid having to come down the hill" in Buninyong.

"I find it amazing that [Buninyong] has had this problem that is so dangerous for years," said a newer resident towards the end of the meeting.

"To think the community has been taken for a ride on this for so long," she added. "I just find it unbelievable - I've never seen a state of road so dangerous and nothing done about it."

Those comments, too, were met with applause. On any view, the sentiment in the room was clear. The Buninyong community has long resented the seeming failure of the Victorian government to properly address the manifest dangers occasioned by the legion of heavy vehicles travelling down the highway that divides the centre of town.

"We don't want to get political, but it is a political issue," said former Buninyong police chief Greg Davies that evening, rejecting Buninyong MP Michaela Settle's view it was purely a matter for Regional Roads Victoria.

"This is a life and death issue," he added. "The only way [it] can be fixed is with a bypass."

It was a sentiment shared by a fellow resident, who said Regional Roads Victoria had for several years told him, with respect to the town's desire for a bypass, "'if the government gives us the money, we'll do the work'."

Though the perceived need for a bypass plainly lives on in Buninyong, any hopes or expectations in that respect were dashed half an hour into the meeting when a question from the crowd prompted Ms Settle to declare her hand.

"Most of you know me - I'm completely straight with you, and no, I won't fund [the bypass]," she said. "I am not going to try and win (sic) votes by promising you something that I'm told by Regional Roads is not on their list."

Nor would the Victorian government commit funding to a strategic plan for a future bypass, Ms Settle said.

"If I spend three million dollars or ask to spend three million dollars to do a strategic plan, all that would do is waste your money and give you a false sense of security," she said.

This, said Western Victoria MP Bev McArthur, was "not good enough".

"What price is a life?" she went on to say. "Do we have to wait until someone is killed in this town because we haven't got the wherewithal to fix a major road issue? I don't accept it's too expensive an option."

Turning to Ms Settle, she added, "your leader came here eight years ago and said the problem would be fixed - the problem is nowhere near fixed and we've seen these dreadful accidents occur."

Ms Settle took exception to that view, claiming its source - an article published in this masthead last week - "was a really sloppy piece of journalism".

Contrary to what was printed in The Courier, Ms Settle told those gathered, then-opposition leader Daniel Andrews had only ever promised to install traffic lights on Warrenheip Street.

But that is only partially accurate. Though Mr Andrews did announce that Warrenheip Street project, he also promised to address or "fix" the myriad dangers attending the school crossing on the Midland Highway.

"[Mr Andrews] was there at the roundabout and he said he was going to fix it," said City of Ballarat councillor Ben Taylor after the meeting. "The traffic lights down in Warrenheip Street had nothing to do with that."

Having ruled out any commitment or likely commitment to a future bypass, at least in the short-to-medium term, Ms Settle urged the community to consider the various traffic management measures suggested in the 2018 feasibility study into the proposed eastern link.

Some of those options included traffic lights at the school crossing, the introduction of slower speed limits much further in advance of the descent, speed display signs and a raised zebra crossing at the roundabout.

Residents were slightly more imaginative, flagging haulage weight limits on trucks, a possible escape lane adjacent to Learmonth Street and speed cameras.

Speaking to The Courier on Friday, Cr Taylor said it was essential the state government no longer delayed the implementation of such initiatives.

"The 2018 study recommend these initiatives be explored then," he said. "But they went AWOL - why can't the government just get on with it and do the work."

It was a view shared by Buninyong and District Community Association traffic advisory group chair Robert Elshaug, who had organised Thursday's meeting.

"We got the 2018 report and then after that we heard nothing - it's only now [the government] has got it out to have a look at," he said. "As someone said last night, there's a heck of a lot of spending going on in Melbourne with all the rail crossings and all we get is the biscuit crumbs."

When asked how hopeful the community was of change, Mr Elshaug paused.

"I don't think they are - they were just hopeful we'd keep pushing, and we will."

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