Rowville motorists drive into oncoming traffic to beat peak-hour congestion

FRUSTRATED peak-hour motorists are resorting to driving on the wrong side of the road in Rowville to dodge morning traffic.

FRUSTRATED  peak-hour motorists are resorting to driving on the wrong side of the road in Rowville to dodge morning traffic, prompting Victoria Police to act.

Knox police will ask Knox Council to review the intersection of Bergins Rd and Buckingham Drive, Rowville, after highway patrol officers fined 12 motorists in 45 minutes on March 7.

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Knox highway patrol Senior Constable David Huybens, pictured, said Bergins Rd traffic banked up from 7.30am on weekdays while drivers waited to turn onto Stud Rd.

When Knox Leader visited the site last Wednesday, drivers using surrounding side streets had a near impossible task to break into the gridlock, unless a stranger let them in.

“People don’t have any courtesy these days,” Sen-Constable Huybens said.

At Buckingham Drive, motorists hoping to turn right were driving on the wrong side of the road — down a turning lane reserved for oncoming traffic — to try and join traffic heading towards Stud Rd.

The potentially deadly shortcut broke three road rules and drivers risked $867 in fines and the loss of five demerit points, Sen-Constable Huybens said.

“The road carries far more traffic than it can cope with during the peak and drivers are taking risks,” he said. Changing the light cycle at Stud Rd would not help, because that road was also choked with cars.

Eight drivers were fined within 20 minutes on March 18 for using a Stud Rd bus lane to skirt queues. Knox engineering and infrastructure director Dr Ian Bell said engineers would review the intersection.

RACV roads and infrastructure manager David Jones said there was a second route drivers could take to reach Wellington Rd. “Rather than taking an unsafe risk, they should look at alternative routes while the issue is investigated,” Mr Jones said.

The 2014 RACV/Leader Redspot Survey opens at the end of April.