Cranbourne’s Lighthouse Christian College celebrates speed limit drop following double fatal accident
THE Lighthouse Christian College community is celebrating news the speed limit on the dangerous stretch of road outside the school, scene of a double fatal accident in August, will be permanently lowered.
South East
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THE Lighthouse Christian College community is celebrating news the speed limit on the dangerous stretch of road outside the school will be permanently lowered.
School principal Jacob Mathews said the school was “delighted” by the decision, which will see the 4.5km section of South Gippsland Highway permanently dropped from 100km/h to 80km/h.
It follows the horror deaths of Ma Li Dai and her 14-year-old daughter Xinyu Yuan, who were leaving the school after a parent-teacher night on August 10 when their car collided with that of a 26-year-old Devon Meadows man. Witnesses tried to help but could not save the two.
“Lighthouse is very thankful to all who have contributed to making our road frontage a much safer one for all,” Mr Mathews said.
“For the school community it is a relief to know that they are not driving into high speed traffic as they leave the school.
“They will have a few seconds longer to cross the South Gippsland Highway.
“We will always feel the loss of Xinyu, but may this be the last of such loss in our region.”
The Cranbourne Leader campaigned to make the road safe after the fatal crash, with Roads Minister Luke Donnellan asking for the speed limit to be temporarily lowered from 100km/h to 80km/h outside the school in September while VicRoads made a decision about a permanent solution.
People who lived near the school said there were often crashes and near misses when people pulled out of the school on to the road.
In the weeks following the fatal there was a crash on August 24 about 1km south of the school, when a southbound vehicle collided with another vehicle after failing to give way while trying to make a U-turn, and on August 22 there was another crash outside the school but nobody was injured.
In August, VicRoads told Leader a 2016 investigation had found the 100km/h limit “appropriate”, but could not able to confirm if it was Melbourne’s only school with a 100km/h zone out the front.
VicRoads movement and safety manager Sasha Yarwood on Thursday said they had listened to the community.
“Not only are we responding to a number of recent serious crashes but we’re also future-proofing this area, which is expected to continue seeing significant residential and commercial growth,” Mr Yarwood said.