Road dust-up

By Tania Martin
A GROUP of Emerald parents who fear for their children’s safety, have called for their road to be sealed, saying that cars can’t see pedestrians walking along the side of the road because of the dust.
Several residents say they fear for their children’s lives, as cars travelling along Old Beaconsfield Road can’t see pedestrians or other motorists.
Resident Tony McDonough said the dust is so bad that when cars travel up or down the street, any car or cyclist becomes impossible to see.
Mr McDonough said despite the council efforts to maintain the road by grading it and laying crushed rock, it just makes it worse.
He said when it rains, the crushed rock is washed into the gutters, and corrugations and pot-holes reappear immediately.
Meanwhile, Deb and Greg Brettoner said that the condition of the road was an accident waiting to happen.
They say it is a miracle that children walking home from school along Old Beaconsfield Road are not hit by passing traffic because of the dust.
Mr Brettoner said there are no footpaths for the children to walk on so they have to walk along the road.
He said on most days the dust is so bad that drivers can’t even see other cars coming from the opposite direction, let alone see a child walking along the side of the road.
“It is a fatality waiting to happen,” he said.
Mr McDonough said the road has steadily worsened over the past few years since further sub-divisions have been allowed down the road and more houses have been built.
He claims the road’s condition, coupled with speeding drivers, had resulted in two cars running off the road over the past couple of months.
Mr McDonough said he believes if something was not done about the road’s condition then someone is going to be seriously injured or killed in an accident.
“The Cardinia Shire Council leaves itself exposed to litigation in the event of a serious accident or fatality occurring, if they fail to promptly rectify the problems with the deep gutters, dust, corrugations and potholes along Old Beaconsfield Road,” he said.
Mr McDonough said the entry of his property was not clearly visable to cars travelling up the hill towards Kilvington Drive, and that because of the dust problems, it has become dangerous to exit his property.
He said this was especially concerning when his wife was towing a horse float and taking his daughters to horse events, as drivers can’t see the horse float turning out of the driveway.
Mr McDonough also said he was concerned about the effects the dust was having on both his wife and daughters health because they suffer from asthma.
However, shire manager of governance and communications Doug Evans said the residents in Old Beaconsfield Road have two options, both involve the residents taking part in a road contribution scheme.
He said the residents can either apply to be part of a dust suppressant program or contribute to a road construction scheme.
But Mr Evans said that Old Beaconsfield Road was not eligible for the dust suppressant program, because it wasn’t listed as a priority road.
He said if the residents wanted to apply to take part in a road construction scheme, the council would be more than happy to look at it.
This would involve land-owners contributing to a percentage of the total cost of the road construction.