Moonee Valley Council supports petition to make Maribyrnong Rd safer

There are fears someone will be injured or killed along a major arterial road in Melbourne’s northwest unless the speed limit is drastically reduced. But commuters say speed is not the problem.

The Maribyrnong Rd intersection that some people want to be a 50km/h or 40km/h zone.

Speed, poor traffic lights and distraction is to blame for a slew of near misses along Maribyrnong Rd, residents say.

A 22-signature petition was tabled at a Moonee Valley Council meeting in May demanding the speed limit along Maribyrnong Rd, between the Maribyrnong River and Epsom Rd, be dropped from 60km/h to 50km/h or 40km/h.

Petitioners are also calling for pedestrian lights to turn green before traffic turning arrows, to give people a chance to start crossing the road, and better signage at the four tram stops and two bus stops along the road.

Residents feared if the changes were not made someone would be seriously injured or killed.

Councillor Nicole Marshall moved a successful motion last week to write to VicRoads, Public Transport Victoria, and Yarra Trams and request the safety and public transport concerns in the petition be addressed.

Maribyrnong Rd is a major arterial road and safety issues do not fall under the council’s jurisdiction.

But while councillors agreed on the safety issues, some commuters say dropping the speed limit would lead to more congestion along the already jam-packed road.

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Clinton Downing said Maribyrnong Rd was “already bad enough in heavy traffic where it’s a crawl”.

Nicole Middelkoop agreed and said the road had two lanes each way and should not be dropped to 40km/h.

Vanessa Bianchi Noulas said “driver distraction not speed” was the problem.

Eleesa Jewell said she had witnessed near misses along Maribyrnong Rd and “aggressive” drivers running red lights was the issue, rather than speed.

“Drivers constantly enter the intersection without a way out and block traffic when lights change. I fear crossing the roads despite having pedestrian right of way at any of the lights in these sections,” she said.

Rich Rutter said he saw a pedestrian hit by a car in a 40km/h zone last week.

VicRoads did not respond for a request for comment.