Left: This Holden Commodore ended up in a ditch after the smash on Healesville-Kooweerup Road.A LONG-TIME Pakenham South couple has condemned authorities for failing to fix a “deadly” intersection on Healesville-Kooweerup Road.
Robert and Lynne Hobson say a car crash there last week highlights how dangerous the junction is; they fear it will take a fatality for VicRoads to fix the problem.
A Nissan Pulsar and a Holden Commodore collided at the Soldiers Road and Healesville-Kooweerup Road intersection about 3.30pm last Wednesday.
The Commodore ended up in a ditch and four out of six people travelling in the cars, all from Pakenham, were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Mr Hobson said the intersection had become more dangerous since the opening of the Pakenham bypass in December 2007, with an increasing number of trucks using the road.
He said there was a desperate need for a Kooweerup bypass to reduce traffic flow and for the Healesville-Kooweerup Road intersection to be upgraded.
“I don’t have to go to the Casino – I can play Russian roulette on Pakenham(Healesville)-Kooweerup Road,” Mr Hobson said.
“It’s an accident waiting to happen.”
Mrs Hobson echoed her husband’s comments.
“We have lived on that road for 32 years and have seen a couple of accidents and a lot of near-misses,” she said.
“If people aren’t concentrating they’re liable to run up the back of you.”
Mr Hobson said: “If they don’t expect you to make a right-hand turn they will push you in front of a truck.”
The couple are calling for VicRoads to construct a proper turning lane to make right-hand turns into Soldiers Road safer.
They talked to VicRoads 12 months ago, but said their requests fell on deaf ears.
Members of the Kooweerup community have also been meeting VicRoads officials to push the need for a town bypass.
Mr Hobson said a bypass would help the situation, but hoped that Healesville-Kooweerup Road wouldn’t be neglected.
“It’s become bad because it’s a numbers game – the number of vehicles compounds the problem,” he said.
VicRoads’ regional director for Metropolitan South-East, Steve Brown, said VicRoads had no plans to alter the intersection of Healesville-Kooweerup Road and Soldiers Road.
“There have been no recorded casualty crashes at this intersection in the five years to 30 June 2008,” he said.
“VicRoads will continue to monitor the operation and safety of this intersection to determine the need for any improvements in the future.”
VicRoads has come up with two routes for a Kooweerup bypass, but funding from either the State or Federal government has not been secured for the long-awaited project.
