Work to improve road safety

ROAD safety will be improved on a section of the Maroondah Highway.
Spending on the stretch from the Melba Highway to St Huberts Road will total $1,878,000.
The project includes 6.6 kilometres of shoulder sealing, 10 kilometres of tactile edge line, guard fence, wire rope safety barriers, guide posts, raised reflectory pavement markers and culverts.
The location has been identified as a road safety risk. The announcement comes just over a year after a collision that killed an Irish tourist.
Police investigated the condition of the road surface as a possible contributing factor to the collision.
The government recently announced that $32 million would be spent on country and outer metropolitan roads in the next financial year as part of the Safer Road Infrastructure Program.
Funded by the Transport Accident Commission to the extent of $360 million since 2004, the program specifically targets dangerous intersections as well as stretches of road that are known for run-off-road crashes.
An example of a run-off-road crash is when a driver loses control of the vehicle and runs off the road, often hitting roadside objects such as trees.
Such accidents over the past five years have accounted for 40 per cent of fatalities and 29 per cent of serious injuries.
Two fatality accidents and nine casualty accidents have occurred on the section in the past five years.
Wire rope barriers could reduce fatalities and serious injuries by up to 90 per cent and provide the most effective barrier protection to reduce the probability of serious injury or death from run-off-the-road crashes, Seymour MP Ben Hardman said.
“Over the past five years, Victoria has recorded its five lowest road tolls since records began.”
The Brumby Government’s new arrive-alive strategy aims to drive down the road toll by a further 30 per cent by 2017 and will include a $650 million investment into road safety projects over the next 10 years.