Residents living along Pascoe Vale Rd in Essendon rally to make the busy road safer after horrific fatal crashes

It’s the deadly road in Melbourne’s northwest that has locals terrified to cross and cycle along. Now there is a community-led push to urgently improve safety.

Essendon residents are rallying to make Pascoe Vale Rd safer.

Fed-up residents living near a deadly road in Melbourne northwest are crying out for urgent safety upgrades as fatal crashes, near misses and hooning plague the busy arterial.

Tessy Raj said she had seen many crashes in her 10 years living on Pascoe Vale Rd and was often the person to ring triple-0.

But last year, when Ms Raj saw 19-year-old Pascoe Vale teen George Kallianis killed on Pascoe Vale Rd just a day before her son’s birthday, she knew something had to be done.

“I will never forget that day. I was meant to go and get a birthday cake for my son that night but was so disturbed,” she told the Herald Sun.

There have been 15 crashes on Pascoe Vale Rd from February 2019 to September 2023, according to Victoria Road Crash Data, of which eight resulted in serious injuries and one fatality resulting in the tragic death of 19-year old George Kallianis (April 2023).

Essendon residents are rallying to get safety upgrades to Pascoe Vale Rd safer after the death of 19-year-old Pascoe Vale teen George Kallianis was killed on the road last year.

Ms Raj and the Essendon community, who live or work along Pascoe Vale Rd, are now rallying to get improved safety on the notorious stretch of road.

An online petition urging authorities to reduce the speed limit to 40km/h, install traffic lights and a pedestrian crossing on Napier Cr on Pascoe Vale Rd has already attracted 467 signatures with a goal of 500.

Essendon community rally to increase safety measures on Pascoe Vale Rd. Photo: Angela Clarke

Ms Raj said there were no pedestrian crossings for children attending Essendon Primary School and or commuters using Glenbervie railway station.

“Watching mums with kids and train commuters crossing the road always makes me anxious,” she said.

There are signalised crossings at Pascoe Vale Rd/Moreland Rd and Pascoe Vale Rd/Woodland St but not on Napier Cr at Pascoe Vale Rd.

Ms Raj said she contacted VicRoads, Victoria Police, and Moonee Valley City Council to raise her concerns but claimed they fell on deaf ears.

“After knocking on all the doors with no helpful response, I was compelled to move ahead with the petition,” she said.

Children going to and from Essendon Primary School are scared to cross Pascoe Vale Rd in Essendon and want pedestrian crossing installed. Photo: Angela Clarke

Co-founder of Moonee Valley Sustainability community group Logan Shields, who grew up around Pascoe Vale Rd, said the road had “always been dangerous” and hard to cross.

“The petition is meaningful to me because I grew up there, spent 20 years of my life living just a few streets away and know well how dangerous that stretch of road is,” he said.

A petition organised to urge authorities to increase road safety on the road has garnered over 300 signature. Photo: Angela Clarke

Mr Shields said pedestrian and cyclist safety on roads across Melbourne were being overlooked.

“We need to look at moving people around, not cars around. Cars are a really important part (of life) and are here to stay, but they’re not the only way to get around,” he said.

“I can imagine a much better world where our roads are designed with all users in mind, not just cars. This would be not only more environmentally friendly but also reduce accidents and fatalities on our roads.”

Moonee Valley City Council Mayor Pierce Tyson said Pascoe Vale Rd was an arterial road that was under the state government’s control.

Mr Tyson said the council’s role was to advocate for road safety on behalf of the community but did not comment on what the council was doing to make the road safer.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said while there had been no reports to police regarding speeding drivers on Pascoe Vale Road, speeding remained a major contributor to road trauma, and they will continue to “actively enforce against speeding drivers”.

Victorian Government spokesman said they are “continuing to monitor Pascoe Vale Road and consider road safety improvements”.

The Department of Transportation was contacted for comment.