Left: Lynda Cartmill remembers her husband, Colin, who was killed in a car accident in February last year. By Sarah Schwager
A HAMPTON Park woman has called for traffic lights to be installed at a notorious Hallam intersection where her husband was killed.
The call to improve Empire Way-Keppel Drive and Hallam Road came as VicRoads announced it had submitted a proposal to the State Government for funding for lights at the intersection.
Lynda Cartmill’s husband, Colin, was killed when the car he was driving and another car collided in February last year.
At the time of the accident, local traders labelled the intersection a death trap, saying there was at least one accident a month in the same spot.
“What about the next person who has an accident there,” Mrs Cartmill said. “What has to happen to get that intersection fixed?”
Just 250 metres down the road, pedestrian-operated traffic signals were recently installed on Hallam Road, immediately north of the railway line.
But Mrs Cartmill said the lights made that area even more difficult to access, banking the traffic almost up to the Princes Highway.
VicRoads data shows there have been 21 crashes between January 2001 and December 2005 at the intersection of Hallam Road and Empire Way-Keppel Drive.
Mrs Cartmill said her daughter did dancing at a studio near the intersection and cars had to do an illegal turn to access it and other buildings on the road.
“It’s just a disaster waiting to happen,” she said.
“You end up with three or four cars in the middle of the road trying to turn left or right from Keppel Drive.
“I always put flowers at the intersection mostly to warn people to be careful.”
The mother of two young girls was learning to drive before her husband died but now will not go behind the wheel, instead having friends drive her.
“I did want to drive but now forget it,” she said.
“I am just pleading with the Government to install lights so that someone else doesn’t die.”
Steve Brown, VicRoads metropolitan south east regional manager, said a proposal has been developed to install intersection signals where Hallam Road joins with Keppel Drive and Empire Way.
“The recorded crash history at the site involves turning traffic, and the traffic signals and associated road works would provide much safer control of turning vehicles,” Mr Brown said.
“This proposal has been submitted to the Government for funding consideration in a future program.”
Mr Brown said the existing pedestrian signals and the proposed intersection signals served different purposes and both were needed.
