by Cam Lucadou-Wells
Wheels were put belatedly in motion for a pedestrian crossing at a notorious blackspot on Stud Road, Dandenong North last year.
In May, the State Government announced funding for a traffic-light-controlled crossing after years of lobbying by Greater Dandenong Council.
Public uproar escalated after a two-year-old boy from Dandenong North was fatally injured when struck by a car in December 2023.
He had been returning home with his father after visiting the stadium’s playground. He was the second pedestrian killed at the blackspot in the past six years.
Then-mayor Lana Formoso was on scene as an SES volunteer in the aftermath of the latest tragedy. She emotionally called on the Government to take belated action.
“This was preventable – if it was built when it was supposed to be,” she said at the time.
“A signalised pedestrian crossing was shovel-ready since 2019. We’ve been getting the run-around – the (Roads) Minister keeps saying there isn’t enough money.”
Residents, including children, regularly bolt across the road to access the popular Dandenong Stadium, a bus stop, playground and floodplains parkland.
The nearest pedestrian crossing is 850 metres away at the Heatherton Road lights, with the eastern side of Stud Road largely without a footpath.
It means many attempt crossing unsafely or instead drive across rather than taking a detour of about 1.7 kilometres.
In 2018, VicRoads pledged to install pedestrian lights and review the speed limit after a pedestrian in her 50s was fatally struck while crossing to a nearby bus stop.
There had been a “cluster of collisions” in the same location plus further ones in the “general vicinity” on Stud Road, state coroner John Cain reported on 13 November.
However there was no pedestrian crossing or traffic light. Drivers leaving the stadium are required to give way to traffic, he noted.
At the time of the boy’s death, the speed limit was 80 km/h. In response, the State Government reduced the limit to 60 km/h as an interim step.
Weeks later, it announced $16.5 million funding over three years for three road projects including a signalised crossing at Stud and McFees roads.
In May, Cr Formoso welcomed the funding but lamented that the Government’s “sense of urgency is sadly still missing”.
“We understand that the funding in Year One is to finalise the design, our officers are most willing to work with the department to finalise the project and we’re very close to having it shovel-ready ourselves.”
Judge Cain recommended a pedestrian crossing and/or traffic lights at a slightly different intersection – at the road in and out of Dandenong Stadium.
“This would allow safe passage for pedestrians leaving the Stadium to reach the other side of Stud Road,” he stated.
