By KATH GANNAWAY
VICROADS has urged motorists to ‘take extra care’ as they continue to monitor a section of the Maroondah Highway they acknowledge has a history of crashes.
Alexandra resident Yvonne Millar was prompted to write to the Mail after reading (Online, 8 April) about an Eildon woman who lost control of her car and slid off the road into a tree just east of Graceburn Aqueduct earlier that day.
While oil on the road was a major contributor to that crash, Ms Millar said comments by emergency workers and police labelling the corner as a ‘black spot’ brought about an immediate response from her and her husband, Ken.
Comments such as “When you get a job on the Spur, you can just about guarantee it will be on that corner,” from one police officer, raised an issue close to their hearts … and their pockets.
An observation by other emergency workers about the camber and road surface contributing to numerous crashes on the ‘notorious’ corner, enraged Mrs Millar who is calling on VicRoads to justify why nothing has been done to address the reasons behind what they say is an unacceptable number of crashes.
VicRoads, in response to the Mail’s questions about the number of crashes and emergency services’ concerns about camber and road surface, said the highway through the Black Spur could be challenging dur to the roadside environment.
“We are aware of this bend having a history of crashes which includes four serious injuries in the five-year period up to December 2014,” VicRoads Metro South East Regonal Director, Aidan McGann, said.
He said guardrails had been installed throughout the Spur, and that VicRoads would progressively monitor the location for future road safety improvements.
Mrs Millar, however, says the challenge is for VicRoads to carry out their duty of care to motorists.
The Millars wrote to VicRoads in January after Mr Millar failed to meet the challenge and found himself sliding backwards down a steep embankment on what he calls the ‘66km/h corner’.
Mr Millar wrote that he was travelling from Healesville to Alexandra.
“It had been raining and, as I started to make the first right-hand corner of the Spur my ute lost traction with the road’s surface,” he wrote.
“I was travelling at 50kms an hour.
“The back of my ute swung towards the front, then not having any traction at all with the road surface the vehicle slid backwards down the road and over the embankment … ”
Mr Millar said police, CFA and an ambulance all turned up, along with a tow truck driver.
He was unhurt, but revisiting the scene last week he told the Mail last week, it was a horrifying experience.
He said there was a consensus of concern about the corner by police and others at the scene, including the tow truck driver who he said told him he had lost count of the number of people he had had to winch out of the same spot.
He said police advised him that as no-one was injured, or killed, they were not required to report to VicRoads.
In the meantime, he said he had become aware of five other people from Alexandra alone who had come to grief on the corner – going up and down.
“If all ‘minor accidents’ were logged in, it would become apparent that this particular strip of road is dangerous,” Mrs Millar wrote.
The Millars say the cost to emergency services, and to drivers who have to pay excess on insurance through no fault of their own, has to be a factor in looking at improvements to the corner.
They also worry, with winter approaching, about other drivers, including their own family members who regularly travel the road.
“It doesn’t matter that they are extremely careful as the driver coming from the opposite direction may not be aware of any danger, which means they are all put at risk,” Mrs Millar said.
“Drivers who have ended up ‘over the side’ have had their confidence diminished, their bank balances reduced and their faith in authorities carrying out their duties undermined.”
VicRoads did not comment on concerns about the camber, but did say that road users needed to take extra care in winter, and keep their vehicles in roadworthy condition.
“The nature of the Black Spur generally means the road can be quite damp and slippery, so it is very important that vehicles are in safe condition,” Mr McGann said.
