Leader launches campaign for lower speed limit at Lighthouse Christian College

CRANBOURNE Leader is calling on VicRoads to lower the 100km/h speed limit outside Lighthouse Christian College — before anyone else dies.

Cranbourne Leader has launched a campaign to have the speed limit outside Lighthouse Christian College on South Gippslan Hignway lowered from 100km/h during school times. Picture: Chris Eastman

PARENTS at Lighthouse Christian College have been calling for a speed reduction outside their school for years.

They have sent petitions to VicRoads asking for a safety review, dreading a horrific smash just like the one that claimed the lives of Mei-Li Dai and her 14-year-old daughter Xinyu on August 9.

Weeks earlier, a teacher was flown to hospital after a car ploughed into her as she pulled out from the school.

RELATED: Grieving dad’s road safety plea

Principal Jacob Mathews believes the speed should be reduced from its current 100km/h to 60km/h during school hours and 80km/h at other times.

The council has backed the call.

And Cranbourne Leader agrees. We think it’s time to act now — before more lives are lost.

Father and husband, Zheng Quan Yuan and son Jake at the funeral for 14-year-old Xinyu Yuan and her mother Mei-Li Dai, who were killed in a horrific car crash outside Lighthouse Christian College. Picture Jay Town

Zheng Quan Yuan made an impassioned plea for road safety at the funeral for his daughter Xinyu Yuan (pictured) and her mother Mei-Li. Picture Jay Town

Parents at the school told Leader they fear more people will die if the speed limit outside the school is not reduced from 100km/h. Picture: Chris Eastman

VicRoads told us last week that a 2016 investigation found the 100km/h limit was “appropriate”.

But when we asked them if this was Melbourne’s only school with a 100km/h zone out the front, they could not confirm, or explain why the college was not covered by a school speed zone like other Victorian schools.

SES inspect the wreckage of Xinyu Yuan and her mother Mei-Li’s car. Picture: Gary Sissons.

Reporter Megan Bailey drove the road — which has 10 speed zone changes in a 20km stretch — and was shocked by the behaviour of motorists. She found the main problem was people speeding and tailgating.

In Cranbourne, the speed changes from 60km/h through the main township to 80km/h just past the ­racecourse.

“The law says you may increase your speed after the speed sign but a lot of people speed up as soon as the sign comes into view,” Ms Bailey said. “Some of them got right up behind me to make a point.

“One charming woman in a 4WD tailgated me before dramatically speeding around me in the other lane.

“Near the school is a bus stop. Buses are slow, very slow for a 100km/h two-lane road, and this could cause problems with the kinds of drivers I encountered.”

Ms Bailey found the speed limit dropped back down to 80km/h near Browns Rd because of intersections, then back up to 100km/h as the scenery changed to fields of cows and vegetables.

“There are some rough edges and signs suggesting drivers drop their speed from 100km/h to 90 around some of the bends near Tooradin, but they are not mandated speeds and people who are inclined to ignore mandated speeds will probably do the same around bends here,” she said.