By Kath Gannaway
COLDSTREAM residents Paul and Carol Metcher want VicRoads to remove safety barriers erected opposite their Maroondah Highway property.
The steel cable barrier has been up just a couple of weeks, but the Metchers say it has made a dangerous situation much worse.
The barriers are part of the $4.8million VicRoads ‘Arrive Alive!’ Safer Roads Project funded by the TAC (Transport Accident Commission) part which includes the erection of steel cable and solid metal barriers erected on numerous stretches of the highway.
The Metchers say they put themselves in danger every time they make a right-hand turn into their driveway, and they have plenty of horror stories over 30 years to back up their fears.
Mrs Metcher said there had been numerous crashes, including fatalities, on the bend over the years and she herselfsome years ago was a victim when a car crashed into the rear of her vehicle as she was turning.
They argue however that there have been many more “near misses” as drivers realise they are bearing down on a turning vehicle and have been able to take evasive action to avoid a collision.
“The car travelling right behind you might see that you are turning, but others behind them often realise too late,” said Mr Metcher.
“Before they hemmed us in, they could pull off on to the grass if they had to, but now there’s nowhere to go.
“If someone hits that and is pushed back into oncoming traffic, you effectively double your collision impact,” he said.
Mr Metcher said VicRoads have advised him they believe there is sufficient room for a car to get around turning traffic and have indicated they will not look at removing the barrier.
The barriers have the Metchers’ neighbours, Michael and Lorraine Pettinella, voicing their frustration as well.
The Pettinellas live on another bend on the highway a short distance on towards Healesville.
Mr Pettinella last week made his thoughts clear with signs erected outside his property asking why taxpayers’ money was being wasted on what he believed was an unnecessary railing.
Like the Metchers, the Pettinellas concede the road widening and some of the barriers are valid expenditure, but they questioned the money being spent on safety measures they said were either unnecessary, or, even worse, added to the existing danger. Mr Pettinella said he believed the barrier opposite his property would have been unnecessary, had one tree been removed.
“I was told by one of the engineers involved in the project it was put there because the tree was in the safety zone and they were not allowed by the Shire of Yarra Ranges to remove it,” he said.
“When you look at the carbon footprint of removing one tree as opposed to manufacturing and erecting something like that, it’s ludicrous,” he said.
VicRoads was unable to provide a response to the Mail’s inquiries by deadline.
