By Bridget Vallence, Evelyn MP
How many more deaths before governments take seriously the need to upgrade the many known dangerous roads through the Yarra Valley?
It’s been a horror few weeks on Yarra Valley roads with three people tragically losing their lives at known dangerous intersections: Queens and Beenak Roads in Wandin East, and Clegg and Wellington Roads in Wandin North. My heart and deepest sympathies go out to their families and friends.
It’s made me more determined, not only as a local mum who drives these roads daily, but as your local MP to amplify the campaign to get governments to listen and to act. Enough is enough.
These roads and intersections are notoriously bad. Our dedicated emergency services first responders from CFA and Police – to whom we owe a great debt of gratitude – reiterate their pleas for safety upgrades after every accident. Just like the need to fix Warburton Highway Seville East and Maroondah Highway at Killara Road, Coldstream, why are we being ignored?
At the end of the day my community expects all levels of government to work together so we can avoid road trauma and deaths. Governments must stop sidelining the vital need for road safety upgrades that we, as Victorians, need and deserve. Lives are depending on it.
The fact is, the Andrews Labor Government has failed to maintain and upgrade roads that, statistically, they know are dangerous.
Labor cut the road maintenance budget by 10 per cent when it came to government, and road conditions are worse than ever.
In 2017 the Auditor-General warned of the poor state of Victorian roads and the lack of accountability for funding – but Labor cut a further $125 million over the past two Budgets. In 2021 the Labor government backed a recommendation to reduce speed limits on low quality rural roads instead of actually fixing them.
And, Budget after Budget, Labor repeatedly refuses to allocate funds for upgrades to Yarra Valley roads even where accidents have resulted in deaths.
Our community is left to endure a road network that is deteriorated, riddled with potholes, and roads and intersections with poor visibility, inadequate warnings, and poorly placed signage.
In Parliament, I’ll keep calling for urgent action to allocate funds to properly fix known dangerous Yarra Valley roads. Not just painting zig-zag lines or inadequately updating rumble strips, but properly investing in major safety upgrades including warning lights, turning lanes, or roundabouts.
Our community is demanding leadership, not ignorance. Our lives matter. It is time for the government to act and fix these deadly roads.
