Traffic nightmare

By Dion Teasdale
TRAFFIC conditions at the intersection of Maroondah Highway and Don Road in Healesville have been described as nightmarish and dangerous.
The Liberal candidate for Seymour, Mike Dalmau, and local school crossing supervisors Max Murray and Warner Jachson are concerned about pedestrian safety and traffic management at the intersection.
They argue that VicRoads has failed to put in place proper traffic management plans and are calling for traffic lights to be installed.
The intersection was the site of a fatality in August 2001 when Healesville schoolgirl Tricia O’Reilly was killed after being struck by a passing truck.
Mr Dalmau said the intersection was chaotic and prone to congestion, and that the situation would get worse before the end of the year.
“This is a highly pressured intersection. There is high pedestrian use, from school students and elderly and disabled people, a lot of heavy vehicles pass through and there is lot of residential traffic from Don Road,” he said.
“The intersection is already dangerous, and once the adjacent bakery and winery developments open in the next six months, they will put even more pressure on the intersection.”
Mr Murray and Mr Jachson said they fear for the safety of pedestrians using the intersection.
The supervisors, who monitor the flow of traffic and assist with crossings between 8.10am to 8.50am and 3.15pm to 4pm on weekdays during school terms, said they have seen plenty of near misses.
“The intersection is a nightmare and it is absolutely terrible when it rains. I’m surprised there haven’t been more fatalities,” Mr Murray said.
Mr Jachson said vehicles have collided with the crossing’s flags on four separate occasions and that he worries about pedestrian safety outside of supervised crossing hours.
“There are a lot of students and elderly people who use this crossing and when we are not here I worry that someone else will be killed,” he said.
Mr Dalmau said the State Government had failed to ensure proper management and regulation of the intersection.
However, Seymour MP Ben Hardman rejected Mr Dalmau’s claim. “Part of the planning permit for the winery and bakery development was that they are required to install a zebra crossing over the Maroondah Highway before they open for business,” he said.
“Mr Dalmau is simply grandstanding for his own political interests.”
Mr Hardman said there had been only five crashes at the intersection in past five years, three of which involved pedestrians.
“There have been no crashes since the current pedestrian island crossing was installed at the intersection four years ago,” he said.
VicRoads Regional Manager Steve Brown said the road authority had conducted an assessment of pedestrian safety at the intersection and was confident that a new zebra crossing outside the winery was appropriate.
“Following installation of the zebra crossing, VicRoads will continue to monitor pedestrian safety at the location to determine if any further treatments are required,” he said.
Beechworth Bakery developer Ian Braham confirmed a zebra crossing would be installed outside the Innocent Bystander winery in compliance with the planning permit issued for the site.
“We’ll be installing a pedestrian crossing with a crossing island refuge in the centre of the highway, and this will be completed within the next three months,” he said.