By Shamsiya Hussainpoor
Kallista CFA members are concerned about the number of calls they get from drivers being trapped on Hacketts Road in Olinda – a steep road only suitable for four-wheel-drives.
For years, delivery drivers and Google Map users were directed to use the dangerous-steep road as a cut-through for tourist destinations, however many drivers were unsuccessful in making it back down safely.
Kallista CFA member Chris Job said several CFA members have made a complaint in the past for the same problem to be mended.
“I’ve tried contacting the council, Google Maps and Uber in the past, but here I’m doing it yet again because it’s just gets worse every year,” Mr Job said.
“Drivers have been directed up the wrong way on this track, when they come up from the east end of the road, they go down the hill and there’s no problem, but when they go in the west end, it’s going straight uphill, they slip backward uncontrollably and end up in this really deep culvert – then even the brake becomes useless because it doesn’t hold them when they put it on.”
“If drivers get trapped, they cannot contact anyone for help because unless the drivers are with Telstra, they won’t have reception there, and the area is not highly populated and therefore cannot contact anyone either – the problem is still very much there, but no one seems to see it.”
Mr Job said in the past, after many attempts, the CFA members brought up the matter to the council and were successful in bringing some changes to this ongoing issue.
“For a while when typing in the address that was in there, it directed you from the correct end – the non-dangerous route and we thought it was resolved, until a couple weeks ago, we witnessed another delivery driver in the ditch, and recently my daughter saw yet another car that was left there overnight to be towed,” he said.
“These delivery drivers are trying to scrape a living, they just can’t afford this, not to mention the emotional stress it puts them in when their car is sliding backwards in the dark uncontrollably towards another road.”
“At the end of the day, it’s going to cost these Uber drivers a fortune which they don’t have.”
Mr Job said, all the crew want is to be listened to and take their concerns more seriously for the benefit of all.
“When I contacted the council, they said the problem was the signage, they changed the signage to different signs, however, the signage is positioned in a way that you can’t actually see the sign until you’re almost driving up to it and at night being no lights in the area, it’s really difficult, I can see why many drivers miss it,” he said.
“Our job is to assist the public, we can assist as far as we can go but if we’re turning up countless times to the same place with the same problem, then we know it’s a bigger issue and responsible respondents need to look into it and take care of it.”
“Heaven forbids, if we’re called off on a more important thing, where someone is trapped in a fire, then what happens? We can’t be wasting our resources on things that have got an easy solution – if we can send people to the moon, I’m sure if we can resolve this issue too.”
Yarra Ranges Council’s Director of Built Environment and Infrastructure Hjalmar Philipp said for the last decade, they have been working to discourage drivers in two-wheel-drive vehicles from going up Hacketts Road.
“More than 10-years ago, we installed large signs warning drivers to turn around and not proceed. In 2023, we replaced those signs with photo-luminescent versions that better illuminated at night,” Mr Philipp said.
“We’ve also been passing on community feedback about the issue to Google and Uber, though we received confirmation that Google has routed their maps away from this road, we do not have confirmation of the same from Uber.”
“We will continue to advocate to all mapping providers to reflect that this road is four-wheel-drive only and we strongly encourage all drivers to always check signage when on unfamiliar roads.”
An Uber spokesperson said all safety incidents are taken seriously and have robust processes in place to work through reported issues.
“Uber is deeply committed to the safety of driver partners on the Uber app – we can confirm that Hacketts Road has been excluded from our navigation,” the spokesperson said.
