Slip sliding away

By Kath Gannaway
VICROADS will investigate a stretch of the Melba Highway following claims road conditions are a major contributor to accidents.
Senior Constable Glen Piper of Yarra Glen Police told the Mail he believed the majority of accidents on the steep section of highway known as The Slide, were due to road conditions.
VicRoad statistics show the section of highway which is between Dixons Creek and the Kinglake turn-off has recorded approximately 40 accidents in the past six years in which people were injured.
Two of the crashes were fatalities, 18 resulted in serious injuries and 20 in other injury.
Sen Const Piper’s comments came after a 26-year-old Boronia woman travelling down the steep incline towards Dixons Creek lost control of her car on Thursday last week and slammed into a truck travelling towards Yea.
Sen Const Piper said he estimated the woman was travelling about 70km/h, well below the 100 km/h speed limit and was very lucky to have escaped with minor injuries.
He said the woman’s comment that she knows the road very well and could not explain how she lost control of the vehicle is something he hears a lot after crashes on The Slide.
“On some wet nights you can go to two or three accidents where people coming down the hill, not going particularly fast, touch the brakes and on a wet road bringing oil and diesel up, they lose control and either hit an oncoming car or hit the embankment.
“I would say in the last six months I would have gone to 10 or 12 accidents up there and there would be others, single car incidents, that we don’t get called to,” Sen Const Piper said.
“It’s more luck than anything else that the figures aren’t a lot worse.”
Sen Const Piper is calling on VicRoads to lower the speed limit to 80km/h and erect signs warning motorists of slippery conditions. Shirley Phillips, owner of Castella Quarries which has trucks travelling up The Slide and travels the road on a daily basis herself, says the 100km/h limit is not the problem.
“My perception is that it is a good road and those who use it on a regular basis and use it wisely are able to cope with the road conditions,” she said.
She said while she believed a reduction in speed was not warranted she called on VicRoads to investigate the placing of the white line defining the edge of the road.
“I believe the line is too far from the outside edge of the bitumen and it pushes trucks and other traffic into the centre of the road,” she said.
Steve Brown, VicRoads regional manager, said motorists needed to drive to the road conditions. “Road surfaces are often slippery when the first rain hits after a prolonged dry period and motorists are urged to travel at a safe speed taking into account the conditions at any time.”
He said VicRoads would see what safety improvements might be appropriate, including a review of the speed limit.