WTF: Near misses in Highton, unfortunate error, green card
In this week’s WTF column, we look at a damaged sign that is causing confusion – and near misses – at a busy Highton intersection, as well as an unfortunate error from City Hall that landed in all the region’s letterboxes.
A regular visitor to the Highton Bowls Club has warned of an imminent injury – or worse – stemming from a twisted give way sign.
The local resident said he’d seen several close calls while walking to and from his preferred venue.
Motorists travelling west on Barrabool Rd enter North Valley Rd via a slip lane, where they are supposed to give way.
But some “d--khead” – his language, not ours – has twisted the sign so it appears motorists exiting the roundabout should give way.
At what at the best of times is a busy area, not to mention when school traffic kicks in and sports events are held nearby, he said the sign should have been fixed weeks ago.
“It’s been like that for at least a month, I reckon, so I can only guess they (authorities) are waiting until an accident actually occurs,” he growled.
UNFORTUNATE ERROR
Let’s preface this piece by conceding that we all make mistakes.
But this one has garnered more attention than most given it landed with all Greater Geelong landowners.
Each household and business recently received their 2025/26 rates notice, accompanied by a letter from council chief executive Ali Wastie.
The problem, however, was that someone at City Hall signed off on the correspondence without realising their boss’ surname was spelt incorrectly.
Without pointing fingers, we’re told it had something to do with a “mail merge”, whatever that means.
Some theorised the “Waste” error was a Freudian slip considering the frustration from many councils, Geelong included, of having to collect the state government’s waste levy, which has jumped significantly this period.
“Your waste charges will be going up – 27 per cent increase from the state government, so just be aware of that,” councillor Andrew Katos warned ratepayers in June.
TRAIN TO NOWHERE
A man accused of serious drug offences recently beamed into Geelong Magistrates Court from custody, anxiously awaiting a chance to press his case for freedom.
A 90-minute bail application had been booked in on his behalf.
The matter was called, with the magistrate at the bench and police prosecutor at the bar table, flicking through the brief in front of him, both ready to go.
Everyone waited with bated breath for the defendant’s lawyer.
But instead of appearing at the bar table, he instead linked in from a blustery train station in Melbourne’s west.
Embarrassed, the lawyer confessed he had boarded the wrong train from Melbourne.
Instead of heading to the greener pastures of Geelong, he’d found himself rumbling towards Ballarat.
The lawyer apologised and admitted he wasn’t a regular public transport user.
He asked to adjourn the bail hearing, unless the magistrate wished to hear submissions from him, in which case he could appear online.
“Certainly not at a railway station,” the magistrate said.
The hearing was pushed back a few days, with the magistrate giving the lawyer some prescient advice: “Get on the Geelong line”.
GREEN CARD
Soon after the Addy started asking police and local councillor Ron Nelson questions about an abandoned – but apparently not stolen – Honda Civic on the northern side of Barrabool Rd, the heavily graffitied vehicle got some more artwork.
A green notice affixed to its windscreen by a city officer warned it “may be impounded” by 5pm on August 27 – that is, last Wednesday.
But the heavily damaged eyesore remained Monday morning, much to the chagrin of one observer, who warned the well-heeled residents of Highton that the “broken windows theory” was real.
“The longer it’s left, the more we’ll see our neighbourhood degraded,” they warned.
The theory proposes that “visible signs of disorder, like broken glass, can foster further crime and anti-social behaviour by signalling a lack of regulation and community care in an area”.
WTF will be keeping its ears to the ground in the hills.
ABSOLUTE PITS
Finally, a keen follower of our story on teenager Jesse Holt falling into a deep unguarded North Geelong pit in mid-July is warning it could happen again.
He said makeshift plastic meshing no longer covered the pit in its entirety, so WTF went to take a look.
And yes, we can confirm there remains an opportunity for someone to end up in the 10m-deep pit, as a heap of junk has done since we last visited – including the cargo carrier that was initially used to help cover it.
For those with a short memory, this is the pit that no one wants to own.
Geelong council, Barwon Water, VicTrack and the Department of Transport and Planning all said it’s not theirs, in some case pointing the finger at others.
Indeed, we don’t even know who erected the meshing – council and the SES have said it wasn’t their handiwork.
Maybe it’s time someone takes responsibility.
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Originally published as WTF: Near misses in Highton, unfortunate error, green card
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