Roundabout plea

By Casey Neill
KNOX Council is calling for help from VicRoads to fix a dangerous Boronia intersection.
Councillors last month (25 August) called for $400,000 in BlackSpot funding to slow down drivers using the Mountain Highway, Albert Avenue and Colchester Road roundabout.
The move followed a pedestrian and traffic engineering assessment prompted by community concern regarding safety.
Boronia resident Clare Kohlman last September collected 610 signatures calling for traffic lights at the intersection, which is close to schools and shops.
Her children have to brave the intersection to reach Boronia Heights Primary School or detour hundreds of metres uphill to a manned crossing.
“Anything to get the kids across safely would be great,” Ms Kohlman said.
“Along Mountain Highway they just fly.”
She said change was needed urgently.
“I don’t really want to wait until someone dies there.”
Boronia Height Primary School principal Mark Flack said the intersection’s safety had been raised at school council meetings at least twice and he welcomed any improvement.
“We encourage active participation, walking and riding to school but the intersection has been an impediment to that,” he said.
“You cross there as an adult and it’s dangerous.”
Chandler Ward councillor John Mortimore labelled the spot ‘one of Knox’s most dangerous intersections’.
VicRoads’s Crashstats database listed 14 casualty accidents at the roundabout between 2002 and 2007, qualifying it for BlackSpot funding.
A council report said drivers failed to slow down as they approached the intersection due to its design, which can comfortably accommodate B-double trucks.
It found increasing deflection angles and redesigning splitter islands and central roundabout islands would slow drivers down.
The council will ask VicRoads to fund the modifications through its BlackSpot program but noted the project could receive higher priority if the council also contributed cash.
The council will also advocate for zebra crossings as part of intersection redesign.
Its report said pedestrians currently wait for a gap in traffic or rely on motorists to wave through. “This is not an ideal situation,” the report said.
VicRoads Metropolitan South East regional director Duncan Elliott said the road authority was investigating the site ‘to determine the most appropriate treatment to improve safety’.
“Council’s concerns regarding pedestrian safety at the intersection will be taken into account as part of this process,” he said.
Mr Elliot said proposals for improvement projects must be considered and evaluated on a state wide basis.
“Any modifications to this intersection will be considered in this context,” he said.