By GEORGIA WESTGARTH and LACHLAN MOORHEAD
PEARCEDALE residents have made an impassioned plea for a roundabout to be built at a notorious local intersection which claimed another life on Friday – this time a 19-year-old woman.
Local anger has reached a point where residents are reported to be considering taking matters into their own hands and blocking the road until it is made safe.The teenager from Mt Eliza was driving west on Robinsons Road when her vehicle crashed into a Ford Ranger ute as she entered the Western Port Highway intersection just before 6.30pm on Friday 29 May.
The ute then collided with another car which was turning left.
The teenager was airlifted to The Alfred hospital but died on arrival.
Pearcedale resident Shannon Smith, who was first on the scene, said he heard the crash and knew it was bad.
He is one of many calling for the speed limit to be dropped and a roundabout built immediately.
“We don’t want to keep running up there and pulling broken bodies out of cars,” Mr Smith said.
“I ran up like we always do … the car was up on the safety rails and was on a really sharp angle facing downwards.
Mr Smith stayed at the scene until the helicopter left and said he doesn’t want to see it anymore.
“If there’d been a roundabout she wouldn’t have been killed,” he said.
Mr Smith said he has assisted in accidents at the dangerous intersection more than ten times.
“I have four kids and my daughter has just started driving and she’s not allowed to exit out of that intersection she has to drive around,” he said.
In August 2013, a 36-year-old Mornington motorcyclist died at the same intersection after crashing into a car.
More than 15 residents who live off the intersection are calling for a speed reduction from 100kms to 80kms.
“I would like to see the speed limit brought down tomorrow; and it needs a roundabout starting construction as soon as possible,” Mr Smith said.
Hastings MP Neale Burgess is backing the residents’ concerns and reiterated calls for a roundabout.
“The reality is we have to make the unsafe intersection safe enough … I believe a roundabout would fix that.”
Mr Burgess also said he wanted to see the road closed or the speed limit dropped before a roundabout was built.
“There needs to be time to design and implement and that wait is risking lives,” he said.
“The other car involved in the accident was grey and at 5.15pm on a dreary day with the horizon rising up on to the road, that car would have completely disappeared into the horizon,” Mr Burgess said.
A spokesperson for Roads Minister Luke Donnellan said the Government would work with the community and the relevant councils to investigate the site and “identify any additional safety improvements.”
“VicRoads is currently investigating options to improve safety and will consult with Victoria Police, Casey City Council and Frankston City Council as part of this process,” the spokesperson said.
They said a number of improvements were made to the Robinsons Road intersection in 2013-14 to “allow road users to make turns, and to enter and exit the intersection in a safe way.”
Casey Councillor Geoff Ablett echoed the need for an urgent community summit on the notorious roundabout, presenting a petition at Tuesday night’s council meeting calling for a summit with Mr Donnellan and the relevant authorities to discuss the viability of a roundabout, and even having the intersection temporarily closed.
He said some of the locals were so angry they were “talking about blocking the road.”
“I’m not sure in the next couple of weeks whether locals won’t take action into their own hands and block it off themselves – that is the feeling at the moment,” Cr Ablett said.
“There are quite a few hundred people who are of that frame of mind.”
Cr Ablett drew a similarity between the Pearcedale intersection and the notorious Hallam Road site in Lynbrook, which claimed the lives of five people in two weeks back in 2009.
He said it took five lives before action was taken to have Hallam Road duplicated.
“I’m getting a sense of déjà vu,” Cr Ablett said.
