Drivers told to watch out

By KATH GANNAWAY
THIRTYSEVEN motorists were caught speeding on the Warburton Highway last Wednesday – the same day a new antispeeding campaign was launched in a bid to reduce rising crash statistics across the Shire of Yarra Ranges.
The Take the Lead, Reduce Your Speed campaign was launched by Shire of Yarra Ranges mayor David Hodgett and police following a dramatic increase in serious injury collisions in the Lilydale, Mooroolbark, Belgrave and Healesville areas.
The latest road crash statistics show a 17.2 per cent increase in serious injuries, 17.1 per cent in other injuries and an 18 per cent rise in crashes with no injuries over the past year in the Yarra Ranges shire.
There have been eight fatal crashes on the shire’s roads this year.
Cr Hodgett said speed had been identified as a major factor in crashes, with drinkdriving the secondmost significant factor.
“Driving within the speed limit and slowing down when conditions change will make the roads safer for everyone,” he said.
The fact that 37 of the 79 traffic infringement notices handed out by his officers were for exceeding the speed limit came as no surprise to officer in charge of the Yarra Ranges Traffic Management Unit Sergeant John Morgan.
He said a threeday operation focusing on speeding a week earlier picked up 178 people for speeding.
“That was out of a total of 251 offences and we’re talking just three (police) cars on the road. It’s quite ridiculous,” he said.
That campaign covered the Belgrave, Lilydale, Warburton and Healesville areas with police targeting each area for four hours at a time.
Sgt Morgan said he and his members took a hard line on speeding and while there were notable exceptions of extremely high speeds, a lot of speeding came down to driver complacency. He said ‘I just didn’t realise’ was the major excuse people gave and he conceded he tended to believe it –most of the time.
“I think people just don’t seem to concentrate, but what they don’t realise is that potentially they have a onetonne weapon in their hands hurling down the street.
“We had one case where the driver was doing 136 in a 50 kilometre zone in Colby Drive in Belgrave and, going back to April, two 20yearolds doing 177 through Coldstream.
“It’s obvious that whatever reason they give is not going to be acceptable, but when someone is doing 75(km/h) in a 50 (zone), yes, I tend to believe they didn’t realise.
“People can become very complacent but they have to realise that a licence is a privilege and a responsibility, not a right, and we can take that privilege away,” he said.
“We take a hard line because we see the result of speeding.
“People just don’t realise what happens when they’re involved in an accident.
“It’s heartbreaking – especially when they’re young.”
The Take the Lead, Reduce Your Speed campaign is one of several Shire of Yarra Ranges road safety programs.