By CAMERON LUCADOU-WELLS
GREATER Dandenong council has installed extra lights at an accident blackspot that had had residents living in fear.
Greg Ashley, who lives at the corner of Bakers Road and Alpine Crescent, Dandenong North, had long campaigned for
guardrails. Speeding drivers who have lost control at the intersection
have crashed through his fence four times, causing $37,000 damage.
He recently told The Journal his home felt like a ‘‘great big magnet” for runaway vehicles.
The council rejected his call for barriers, instead building two traffic islands to slow oncoming traffic.
After meeting council officers last week, Mr Ashley was told two
more street lights would be installed on the corner, as planned all
along. Mr Ashley abandoned his call for guardrails and accepted the
council’s argument that barriers were inappropriate.
The lights were put up on Monday, July 15, not long after a
motorcyclist riding south on Bakers Road clipped one of the islands,
wrote off his motorbike and suffered minor injuries on Sunday night.
The traffic island was in darkness because the single street light
on the corner had failed over the weekend. The council also replaced it
on Monday with a brighter light.
The council’s city improvement manager, Dino De Melis, said there
were warning signs, bollards and chevron signs for drivers at the
weekend. But Mr Ashley said the motorcyclist couldn’t see the island
“until he was right on top of it”.
Mr Ashley will install two large water tanks as reinforcement
behind his front fence. “I’m not 100 per cent confident that it’ll stop
the danger because you get fools behind the wheel,” he said.
CORRECTION
In the July 15 story on this issue, Cr Maria Sampey was wrongly identified
as mayor. Mayor of Greater Dandenong is Angela Long. The error was made
in production.
