By Renee Wood
The change in the speed limit from 50 to 40 kilometres an hour through the Healesville CBD has been quite the talking point among residents.
The new speed zone has been implemented on Maroondah Highway from Church Street to St Leonards Road, with drivers spotting the new flashing speed signs from Monday 11 July.
The sign and reduction have come as a surprise to residents and business owners.
Sally Piper from Healesville Jewellers said she hopes there’s a grace period as drivers become familiar with the speed change.
“I didn’t even know – there didn’t appear to be any warning and suddenly I drove into town and there was flashing lights, I was thinking when did this happen,” she said.
Department of Transport has installed 10 new electronic signs to remind drivers of the new reduction, which will be a permanent change at all times.
Works commenced last year and local businesses received a notice through the post in November however, there was no update this year to say when the speed would be implemented.
A Department of Transport spokesperson said safety is their number one priority.
“These upgrades are designed to improve safety for all road users around the busy Maroondah Highway/Healesville shopping strip,” they said.
“Upgrades to the Maroondah Highway will help to support Healesville’s continued growth and assist our local economy by improving pedestrian safety and access to our businesses.”
The upgrades were part of the Victorian and Australian governments’ $457.57 million Road Safety Program, delivering safer, connected journeys in Victoria.
The speed change decision was made following six crashes in the area between 2015 and 2020, which five involved pedestrians.
It’s expected the slower pace has increased safety for pedestrians, with almost 80 per cent of pedestrian fatalities and serious injury crashes on Victorian roads occurring within speed limits of 60km/h or lower.
So far, businesses and residents are receptive to the speed reduction.
Healesville resident David Ward said he’s okay with the change here but the highway reduction to 80 kilometres from 100 is “insane”.
“I think for safety reasons it’s a good thing as long as it’s only a short perimeter… I don’t think there’s anything wrong with not being run over in the main street,” he said.
Holli-May from Miss Spelts said, “There are a lot of pedestrians, so I think it’s a good thing…If they slow down it gives people the opportunity to see shops from their cars.”
And with slower speed, the concern for congestion has been pointed out by locals, particually for the weekend.
Healesville resident Belinda said she can see why the speed was reduced but congestion is expected.
“During the week it’s probably not such an issue because we all drive slow anyway through here but on the weekends it’s just going to snake all the way out of town with the extra speed reduction because more people will get caught at the lights and it will just have a flow on,” Belinda said.
The new speed zone ends at St Leonards Road, which should be helpful for the “dangerous” intersection of Maroondah highway and Badger Creek Road .
Resident Belinda said that intersection is more of a concern for her as a parent with small children and believes further safety upgrades are needed.
“People have been lobbying for ages for something for that cross road because you get all the traffic trying to cross over, people trying to turn up towards the sanctuary,” she said.
“You can see that those green barriers in the middle of the road have been taken out several times by cars around the corner.”
