Crashes question road safety

by Sandi Miller
6th July 2020

Crashes question road safety

By SANDI MILLER

 

LOCAL TRUCK driver, Stephen Goldsworthy says “enough is enough” after being forced to swerve his delivery truck into a ditch to avoid head on collision on Brysons Road in late June.

“My truck is a write off,” he said.

He told the Diary he was driving along Brysons Road, when he saw another truck come towards him in the middle of the road

“It was speeding towards me as I came around the bend I had nowhere to go — I hit the wall and wrote off the truck.”

He said the other driver stopped briefly before driving off.

“If I had not driven my van into the [ditch], the van coming the other way would have hit me head on, it was on the wrong side of the road, and I suspect speeding.

“He would have known what had happened, and then he drove off.”

While he managed to walk away from the accident, he said he is disgusted with the state of Brysons Road.

“Brysons Road is a mess, a total mess,” he said.

He said with no footpath on Brysons Road, people have to walk on the road, there is nowhere for kids to ride their bikes on the way to school.

He also says the drains are more than half a metre deep in places,

“They have not been managed at all, the road often floods, because the drains are full of debris,” he said.

He also says that with trees only 30–40cm away from the road, the speed limits are inappropriate.

“I would be lucky to be doing 40 safely [given the condition of the road],” he said.

However, he is appalled that the road carries a Federal Black Spot sign only 150 metres from where the crash occurred, despite not having any substantial work done on it for the 12 years he has lived on that road, particularly as the road is currently carrying additional traffic as the Jumping Creek Road traffic is being detoured along that road.

He said that funding is given to projects in more populated areas but is not going where is it needed.

“Someone will die on that road before Christmas,” he said.

Stephen is calling for a public meeting to discuss what should be done, saying that “Council, State and Federal Government, along with VicRoads are not taking the safety of our local residents seriously”.

“Federal Government, VicRoads, Council, we don’t care who is responsible, we just want it fixed.

 

Taking care, taking responsibility

Meanwhile a woman who was seriously injured in a crash in January at Warrandyte Bridge is calling for changes on Research Road.

Ana Quine was trapped in her vehicle for several hours, broke several bones and received lacerations, when a truck collided with her car when its brakes failed coming down Research Road toward the bridge.

“I would like to see signs telling trucks to check their brakes, warning about the steep incline,” she said.

Her mother, Benita Quine says there has got to be more accountability and more policing, to get the message through, that it is not just road deaths that leave a lasting legacy on families.

“Ana’s life was saved, and we are very grateful.

“But they don’t see the result, she has a lifetime of injury because of someone not thinking, ‘oh should I check my brakes’; the police officer said the driver knew his brakes were failing, and he could have pulled over at some point,” Benita said.

Ana said she understands that change happens gradually.

“I would like to see small changes that would add up to something better, like warning signs on the road.”

She implored people to be aware while driving “not driving for yourself but for everyone around you”.

“You can’t predict when an animal is going to run out in front of you, but you can help yourself be able to react, by doing the speed limit and leaving your phone in the back seat — none of these things contributed to my accident, but there are just so many things people could be doing every single day, simple things that won’t be as inconvenient as you think, but something that could save someone’s life.

“I think a lot of people who drive by [an accident] are hoping that the person survives, but then the person surviving has to deal with surviving afterwards.

“Coming so close to not surviving is something that makes you feel very, very mortal,” Ana said.