‘Push traffic back from South-Eastern Freeway intersection’ to keep cars safe from trucks that roll
TRUCKS turning right on to Portrush Rd from the South-Eastern Freeway are an “accident waiting to happen”, one councillor says, as she proposes a new idea to better protect cars.
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- Tougher penalties for speeding truck drivers
STATIONARY traffic would be pushed back from the intersection of Portrush and Glen Osmond roads and the South-Eastern Freeway under a new call to improve safety.
The Transport Department says it will investigate traffic concerns raised by Burnside Council after a serious truck crash earlier this month.
Burnside will write a “letter of concern” to the department after the B-double tipped over while turning right into Portrush Rd just before 9.15pm on August 8, taking out a traffic light and closing the intersection for almost seven hours.
Cr Anne Monceaux told the Eastern Courier Messenger trucks turning right into Portrush Rd from the Freeway were an “accident waiting to happen”.
The road’s “worn” surface and its slope towards oncoming traffic needed urgent attention, she said.
There had been 20 casualty crashes — including three fatalities — at the intersection between 2013 and 2017.
In 2014, two drivers waiting at the lights were killed after a truck veered left off the freeway into their stationary vehicles.
The truck driver was initially charged, but those charges were later dropped.
The crash saw the speed limit on the downtrack cut to 90km/h for cars and 60km/h for trucks.
Cr Monceaux said the Transport Department should consider moving traffic lights further back along Glen Osmond Rd to avoid vehicles being hit.
“If that (August 8 crash) had happened at peak hour, during the rush hour in daylight … (commuters) would have been victims of the debris,” Cr Monceaux said.
“If the cars were moved further back towards the service station (it would avoid disaster).
“You can be sitting on Glen Osmond Rd, waiting to go up the hill on a green light as a truck is still coming through. It’s a real concern.”
She said the entire intersection needed a “rethink”.
“It needs a major redesign,” she said. “Luckily, fortunately, no one was hurt (on August 8). Nobody was killed.”
She said the introduction of a 60km/h speed limit for traffic approaching the intersection from the South-Eastern Freeway had gone some way to alleviating the problem, but crashes were still occurring.
Mayor David Parkin agreed the intersection needed an upgrade.
A Transport Department spokesman said it would investigate issues at the intersection once it received the council’s letter.