Adjournment
Princes Highway intersections, Berwick
Mr BATTIN (Gembrook) (17:16): (1920) My adjournment matter is to the Minister for Roads. It is in relation to a recent change of the lights at Bryn Mawr Boulevard–Manuka Road–Princes Highway in Berwick, where we have campaigned in the past few years to get two changes to the sets of lights there, to put arrows in to allow right-hand turns coming out of Bryn Mawr Boulevard and right-hand turns coming out of Manuka Road. The intersection itself gets busy at different times of the day, with a lot of school traffic filtering through that intersection there, particularly at 3.00 to 3.30 pm and in the mornings at 8.00 am. The government has decided to upgrade one half of the lights, but like this government, they have left the other half just stranded where they are. People coming out from Berwick College will be coming down to that intersection and will be left at an intersection that is quite dangerous. In the past we have seen many accidents there, and a lot of those accidents are from people coming out and turning right—including a pedestrian being hit—when it is busy along those intersections. A lot of students cross there as well.
I would ask the minister to come out and have a look at that intersection. I do not mind if the minister gets out of bed early and comes down. I will buy her coffee and we will go down to that intersection and have a look and see what the traffic is like at around 8 to 9 o’clock in the morning, or in the afternoon, when we can have a cup of tea and a scone and sit at the side. But it is really important that they do come down and understand the impact of only doing half a job at this intersection and the risk that that is putting people at—those who are driving through but also the students walking back from school.