On March 25 a collision between two cars at the Murray Valley Highway (MVH) and Hogan’s Road intersection resulted in a tragic double fatality with neighbouring residents up in arms about why more has not been done to ensure motorists safety.
Silverwoods and Zorro Drive residents Anita Bellott, Roger Norden, Janette Clever, Lyn Norden, Jan Harper, Rob Harper, Brad Bellott and Colin Pooler are now pleading with road authorities to further reduce the speed from 80km/h to 60km/h just past the residential areas to ensure the safety of all road users, residents and visitors.
In December 2020 a roundabout was opened at the Woods Road/ MVH intersection with the crossroads a notorious accident hotspot before a speed reduction was implemented from Woods Road to just past Bott’s Road in July 2021.
“Yarrawonga is growing, primarily to the east, and it is becoming more congested thus there is more risk of a fatality. It is just going to get more dangerous unless something is done now,” Silverwoods resident Brad Bellott said.
“Almost each way you turn into or out of Silverwoods, it is a blind spot.
“If you are turning right towards town, the left lane to turn into Silverwoods is a hazard as someone can be in the turning lane, but you can’t see any traffic behind them that may still be travelling along the highway,” Janette Clever added.
“Silverwoods is a major attraction with the Black Bull Golf Course and the Sebel so there are always cars turning into and out of the estate and trucks also travelling along the highway,” Anita Bellott included.
“Visitors don’t know all about the area, so they are also unaware about how people drive around here and a major issue is also that people get impatient because of the congestion.
“It is just so dangerous along the highway here,” another resident,“ Colin Pooler said.
“Prior to the tragic accident a fortnight ago, BodyCorp sent out a newsletter to Silverwoods’ residents that said the speed limit was being talked about being changed to past Hogan’s Road.”
The Silverwoods March Quarterly newsletter, which was sent to all residents and investors, said that at the 2022 AGM, a resident raised a question about adding more entry and exit points to the estate in order to reduce congestion and following concerns about being able to evacuate the estate in an emergency.
The newsletter stated that ‘the committee and Lotus (Silverwoods’ developing company) are now discussing with the road authorities as to whether this can be further reduced to 60kmph until after Hogans Road.
‘Slower traffic on the highway should allow for cars to exit more frequently from the estate and therefore lower the amount of peak time queueing as well as making the exit on to the highway safer for all residents.’
“We would like to see the speed reduced to 60km/h down to Buchanans Road,” Lyn Norden said.
“If it was 60km/h there would still be accidents, but we shouldn’t have fatalities.
“In a perfect world we would love to see a roundabout here as it would slow traffic but a speed reduction to 60km/h to say around 200m past Hogans Rd would greatly decrease the risk of major accidents,” Rob Harper said.
Hogan’s Road resident Amanda Joy agreed with the sentiment of her neighbours saying that the speed should be reduced to 60km/h all the way to Buchanans Road. Just like in Mulwala.
“A roundabout would be ideal, but I don't like our chances with that happening,” Ms Joy said.
“My husband and I used to travel daily to work from Hogans Road and have had many near misses especially in foggy conditions.
“It is also very difficult to see a car travelling through behind another turning left into Hogans Road as well.”
Hogans Road residents are also concerned about further increased traffic from future zoning and plans to further subdivide the area with housing developments and a retirement village soon to be constructed.
The Yarrawonga Chronicle asked Regional Roads Victoria after the March 25 accident if road authorities were now reviewing the speed limit in light of the fatal accident as well as what else could be done to make these intersections safer with a spokesperson saying that “the speed limit on this section of MVH is appropriate and is in line with the road speed standards.”
