Fatal smash unnecessary

By Jade Lawton
Yellingbo resident Phil Stacey said he asked VicRoads to put a guard rail on the bend, 100 metres south of Bedford Road, about two years ago.
A 42-year-old South Morang man was killed when the car he was a passenger in left the road and hit a tree on Friday, 24 April.
“I rang VicRoads two years ago and pleaded with them to put guard up on that bridge, and they didn’t. If they did, I don’t think that fatality would have been a fatality,” he said.
“I’ve been told there’s no funding. How long are we going to hear the same story? I know if it’s a government job it (the barrier) will cost 10 times what it’s worth, but it could still save someone’s life.”
Mr Stacey said he used Woori Yallock Road twice a day and was now seriously considering finding an alternate route to work.
“There was another accident on the same bridge on Thursday morning – I think that’s six accidents on the road since the Cockatoo Rodeo,” he said.
“The road is exceedingly rough and the lanes are barely 2.5 metres wide. A truck is 2.4 metres wide, and if you follow a truck down that road you’ll see the wheels are hanging over the side of the road. So picture a 50-tonne load of crushed rock and a school bus … really it’s lucky it was just one fatality.”
Nangana resident Len Parnall said he could recall about four fatalities at the bend in the past 10 or 12 years.
“People need to slow down,” he said.
“There needs to be a sign telling everybody to slow down. It’s the same everywhere; if the roads are rough and untidy you slow down and drive accordingly, but people don’t seem to want to do that any more. There needs to be a big sign educating drivers.”
VicRoads did not respond to inquiries before going to press.