Death indifference

By MARA PATTISON-SOWDEN
YEARS of cleaning up the carnage of road collisions at a dangerous Warburton Highway bend has meant nothing to authorities until a life was lost last month.
That’s the feeling of residents living along the section of Warburton Highway in Launching Place, between Allsops Road and Lusatia Park Road, who have watched airborne cars, heard the whoosh of tyres, the screech of brakes and the deafening bangs outside their houses.
They rush out wondering if it might be someone they know, applying first aid, alerting emergency services and calming people who are injured or in shock.
Residents are frustrated that safety measures haven’t been put in place since they ramped up efforts to inform the authorities of the dramatic increase in the number of collisions within the past six months.
Although a police intervention after last month’s fatality has seen the appearance of VicRoads staff and engineers assessing the road, the residents are angry that they’ve been left out of the loop.
Paul van Kaathoven, who lives on the inner corner of the bend, said it was the fear for the safety of his young family that led him to start documenting the incidents on the bend for the authorities.
“I’ve been here for 10 years and never seen it as bad as this past year,” he said.
“The frustrating part is that we all said there would be a fatal, we warned that a catastrophic accident could happen and unfortunately that night (Tuesday 27 March) this young man lost his life.”
Mr van Kaathoven said he and the neighbours had been asking for safety barriers for years, not just for their safety but also the pedestrians, horse riders and other road users.
“They’ve put in some signing and markers (since the crash) but we’ve mentioned many times that we need road barriers…now a life’s been taken and still they’re moving slowly,” he said.
Martin Chadwick, a resident on the south side of the highway, said nearly every tree was a piece of evidence in the road’s dangerous history.
“You just have to look at the scars on the trees,” he said.
“The week before last we had three accidents in one week and in three years I’ve attended 22 accidents and at least 30 that haven’t been reported.”
Mr Chadwick keeps fire extinguishers and a first aid kit at the front of his property saying his role as Good Samaritan “just sort of grew” as he was often first on scene when an incident happened.
“It’s not a nice thing to deal with…you don’t mind doing it, it’s cost me a couple of tarps and safety jackets.”
Perry Carter, who’s lived on the highway for 18 years, said the residents just wanted some way to stop the cars from crashing in the first place.
“I used to think it was speed, but I take that back because there’s evidence it isn’t,” he said.
“It’s simple, there’s obviously something wrong with the road.”
Yarra Junction police Sergeant Kevin Largue said although the location hadn’t been flagged as a Black Spot by VicRoads, there had been a number of potentially dangerous accidents to warrant a direct approach to VicRoads by the police.
“I’ve been to a couple of serious prangs there,” he said.
“We can’t rule speed out but in some collisions we know speed hasn’t been a factor.”
Sgt Largue said he believed an engineering solution was needed to fix the road.
“We’ve had VicRoads come out twice, once shortly before the fatal and then immediately after the collision,” he said.
VicRoads Regional Director Peter Todd said investigations were being carried out at the site, including a speed study and pavement investigation as well as skid resistance testing to determine what could factor in the incidents.
He said once investigations were complete there could be possible improvements to the stretch of highway.