Wednesday, 29 October 2025

 Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (19:04): (2065) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, and the action that I seek is for the minister to take urgent action to improve safety and traffic flow between trams and cars at the McCrae Street–Chapel Street intersection in Bendigo by immediately ordering a safety audit of the intersection to establish how safety can be improved. The Midland Highway winds through the centre of Bendigo, becoming Napier Street, then McCrae Street, then Pall Mall, then High Street – all different names but the same long and busy road that is the main artery of traffic through the city. It carries cars, motorbikes, cyclists and trucks, and it also carries heritage trams that give visitors a taste of old-world charm as they tour the gold rush city. All these vehicles and their drivers occupy the same few lanes of traffic, and while they usually succeed in safely navigating the shared space, there are regular accidents and many more near misses. There are several intersections on the Midland Highway that urgently need to be upgraded, including the Howard Street intersection and the Violet Street intersection, both of which I have raised in the Parliament many times.

Likewise, Bendigo’s heritage tram operators have advocated for years for safety improvements to the intersection of McCrae Street and Chapel Street, which they say is particularly dangerous, but they have not yet seen any action by this Labor government to solve it. The McCrae Street and Chapel Street intersection has a right-hand turning lane for vehicles turning right into Chapel Street, but that right-hand turning lane is also the space where trams coming from the opposite direction must pass through as they go straight ahead. Before trams start crossing the intersection, they must wait until the turning lane is empty, and it is easy to imagine how tricky it is for tram drivers to time their move and how chaotic the scene can become. Tram drivers report that after waiting for the lane to be clear and starting their move across, cars will often pull into the turning lane at the last second, right in front of the tram, forcing drivers to slam on the brakes. Tram drivers report frequent near misses at this spot as well as numerous small incidents with trucks where mirrors are swiped or tram steps are clipped, which quickly add up to expensive repairs.

Drivers are worried that more serious collisions are just waiting to happen. The Bendigo Heritage Attractions CEO has proposed that this could be fixed by allowing tram drivers to control the traffic lights at the new pedestrian crossing at Mundy Street to hold vehicle traffic up until trams have passed through that intersection. I urge the minister to consider this proposal as well as immediately ordering a safety audit of the McCrae Street intersection to establish how safety can be improved. Despite the premier’s own seat being in Bendigo, the Allan Labor government has not shown any interest at all in addressing the desperate need for safety upgrades at several Bendigo intersections, including those along the Midland Highway, as well as the Maiden Gully Road and Calder Highway intersection, which is the council’s top – (Time expired)