Minister promises to make Melbourne-Lancefield Rd “safer”

STATE Roads Minister Luke Donnellan has assured drivers Melbourne-Lancefield Rd will get thorough safety upgrades.

Roads Minister Luke Donnellan and Macedon state MP Mary-Anne Thomas at Melbourne-Lancefield Rd last week. Picture: Kylie Else

STATE Roads Minister Luke Donnellan has assured drivers Melbourne-Lancefield Rd will get thorough safety upgrades.

Mr Donnellan spoke to the Leader as he and Macedon state Labor MP Mary-Anne Thomas met VicRoads officials on the road last Thursday.

The notorious stretch has been identified among the worst 20 rural roads in the state for safety.

The visit, which included looking at geographic crash data on the road, comes after preliminary VicRoads community consultations seeking feedback attracted more than 800 comments.

Between June 2010 and June 2015, there were 159 crashes along the 37km stretch of road, from Goonawarra to Lancefield.

Five deaths and 153 injuries resulted from those accidents.

Mr Donnellan said a key philosophy of upgrading rural roads was that a mistake shouldn’t cost a life.

“The core of our thinking will be around safety and measures such as wire ropes that could be installed to reduce the severity of accidents,” Mr Donnellan said.

“Every road has its own characteristics and you look at the type of accidents to look at the treatment.”

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He said there was a rise in usage across the length of the road, which demanded strategic upgrades.

“It is going to be a safer road by the time we are finished with it,” he said.

“Getting home in a reasonable time period is important, but not as important as getting home in one piece.”

Ms Thomas said Melbourne-Lancefield Rd carried a variety of traffic, from tractors to horse floats, with limited opportunities to pass vehicles.

“This project will also be about modifying behaviour,” Ms Thomas said.

“Too many people drive at 100km/h without thinking about things like kangaroos and the conditions.”

As part of planning for improvements, VicRoads is expected to run community meetings to further bed down ideas.