Cranbourne a road death hotspot

By Shaun Inguanzo
MORE Cranbourne people will die on local roads unless they make a conscious effort to obey speed limits and other laws, says the region’s police chief.
Victoria Police Region Five Assistant Commissioner Paul Evans said he was appalled by latest police statistics showing that Cranbourne roads had accounted for 10 of the City of Casey’s 11 road deaths this year.
This time last year, Cranbourne had three road fatalities to its name – already a horrendous figure, Mr Evans said.
But this year it accounted for a large percentage of not only the City of Casey’s road toll, but of the 54 people killed on Region Five roads, which includes south east metropolitan and rural areas of the state.
Last year Region Five’s road toll was 39.
In a bid to reduce the road toll ahead of the busy traffic police anticipate for this weekend’s Moto GP run, Mr Evans urged drivers in Cranbourne to slow down and obey the road rules.
Mr Evans said he was alarmed to learn that some of the deaths in Cranbourne involved motorists crossing double lines to overtake vehicles, and drivers or passengers not wearing seatbelts.
He said fatal motor vehicle incidents rarely involved people who stuck to speed limits and obeyed basic road rules, and who were not under the influence of alcohol, drugs or fatigue.
Mr Evans attributed the bad driving to a population boom in Cranbourne and a failure by authorities to ensure road and public transport infrastructure was upgraded in line with demand.
But he said that was no excuse for frustrated Cranbourne residents to break the law.
“Cranbourne people need to take a good look at themselves,” he said.
“The way we’re going, some of them may not live to see Christmas.”
While he would not reveal the number of speed cameras in Cranbourne, Mr Evans said police had increased the number of cameras by 60 per cent.
“We’ve also got additional booze buses and additional Regional Tasking Unit shifts in the area.”
The City of Casey statistics showed that peak hours of 7am to 9am, and 2pm to 7pm were when the most collisions occurred.
The greatest hot spot this year has been the intersection of Heatherton Road and Monash Freeway, with six major collisions recorded.
Fifteen of the 54 people who have died on Region Five roads had collided with trees.