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Roads | July 24, 2018

Borung Highway - Adjournment

Victorian Parliament - 24 July 2018 - Ms KEALY -  My question is to the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, and the action that I seek is for the minister to take immediate action to make the Borung Highway safe. The Borung Highway is a major freight route for trucks carrying large loads, including grain, hay and stock. It is also an important domestic and school bus route. However, the road is not fit for purpose. The surface is breaking up in large sections and the shoulders of the road are badly crumbling, with sections of the sideline actually breaking up. Recently rumble strips were laid down the centre of the road. Rather than improving road safety, this has made the road treacherous for users. Trucks must now risk putting their load off balance by travelling off the road in the gravel or along the crumbling shoulders, therefore putting at risk their load and risking the truck tipping over. Their only alternative is to drive up the centre of the road so that they straddle the rumble strips, and obviously that puts other road users at terrible risk.

The rumble strips have been an abject failure, with large sections lifting and flying up to hit vehicles travelling behind other cars. They are also a terrible risk around motorcyclists using that road, and I have had reports from local road users who have seen these rumble strips lifting and flying up. Obviously if you are a motorcyclist and parts of that rumble strip come in under your helmet, it could potentially result in the loss of your life, which would be an absolute tragedy.

It is clear that those rumble strips were faulty when they were laid. The work needs to be immediately halted and the rumble strips investigated before any further rumble strips are put down. Certainly the community around the Borung Highway and the people who use that section of road are desperate for an improvement. They see this as just an accident waiting to happen. It is such an important local roadway for local users but also as a freight route. I therefore ask the minister to take immediate action to make the Borung Highway safe.