By CAMERON LUCADOU-WELLS
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FOR cross-country runner Roy McKenzie, nothing’s more perilous than trying to cross a freeway slip lane in Dandenong North.
On his regular training runs, he “takes my life in my hands” crossing the Monash Freeway access lane on the west side of Stud Road, just north of Cheam Street.
Footpaths from the north and south lead up to the access lane – the paths are the only way to cross the freeway by foot on Stud Road.
But much to Mr McKenzie’s bemusement, there is no marked crossing, let alone traffic signals to protect pedestrians.
At the natural crossing point, he has about a second to “run like hell” in front of 80km/h freeway-bound traffic that appears from behind a blind corner.
The corner is further obscured by a resident’s backyard shrubbery that’s grown beyond the fenceline. “If you are coming from the freeway side, the drivers’ chance of stopping is minimal but at least they see you,” Mr McKenzie said. “But from the other side, there’s no hope of even seeing you before they’re on top of you.”
He’s had close calls at the crossing. “When a car saw me once it was going 80km/h and had the brakes on. I thought it was going to flip. By the time it got to me, I had just crossed the road.
“Some drivers speed up when they see you, some blast you with their horns as if you’ve done something wrong. They don’t think you should be there.”
For two years, Mr McKenzie and wife Linda have pleaded with VicRoads for traffic signals ahead of the crossing.
Last week the McKenzies received an email from VicRoads – one hour after the Weekly sent an enquiry to the organisation. It stated that pedestrian “facilities” were “unlikely to be implemented in the short to medium term”.
It stated that the assessment was based on the number and type of vehicles using the intersection, the need to cater for pedestrians, the safety record of the site, the cost and the impact on the performance of the road network. “They will wait till someone dies then they will be looking at it,” Mr McKenzie said.
VicRoads did not respond to the Weekly’s approach before deadline.
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