Wednesday, 22 February 2023

 Bridget VALLENCE (Evelyn) (19:05): (53) How many more deaths before this Labor government takes seriously the need to upgrade known dangerous roads in the Yarra Valley. Clegg Road, Wandin North, at the Wellington Road intersection is notoriously bad – so bad in fact that on average there has been an accident there every six weeks for the past five years. Tragically, there was another death as a result of an accident at this intersection just over a week ago, an accident that my young son and I saw after getting to this intersection minutes after the crash and just before the emergency services workers arrived. I have already highlighted the dangers of Clegg Road at Wellington Road here in Parliament back in 2021, but there is still no action from this Labor government, so I am here raising it again. We have had another death, and I hope this will be enough for the government to listen this time.

In just two weeks in Parliament this year I have had to speak of road trauma and deaths on Yarra Valley roads twice already – twice in two weeks. We have had three deaths in the past five weeks on roads in Wandin. So today the matter I raise is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, and the action I seek is for her to urgently authorise the Department of Transport and Planning to undertake major structural safety upgrades at Clegg and Wellington roads in Wandin North without delay, ensuring sufficient funding is allocated to fulfil this action to fix this black spot.

I refer to the constituency question I raised in 2021. I asked: when will the government allocate funds to fix Clegg Road at the dangerous intersection of Wellington Road in Wandin North? Interestingly, the minister’s response on 17 January 2022 to my request states:

All requests are considered and evaluated … with consideration given to factors …

including

the historical safety record of the site …

and

the impact that treating the intersections would have on the safety and performance of the surrounding road network.

The roads minister at the time expressly stated that upgrading this intersection would be based on the historical safety record of the site. Given we as a community know that there have been nearly 50 accidents here in five years, including fatalities, there surely is sufficient historical record at the Clegg and Wellington roads intersection in Wandin North for the Andrews government to take this action and fix this deadly state road.

Again I pay tribute to the emergency first responders, including Wandin CFA fire brigade volunteers and Yarra Ranges police, who attended this accident and did everything that they could to save the life of the man who subsequently died from his injuries. Emergency services workers are pleading for at least flashing lights and signs to alert motorists in the short term, but really what we need is significant major upgrades for this intersection.