Fix the intersection, they say

ACTION is being called for to fix a dangerous intersection at the corner of the Strzelecki Highway and Darlimurla Road Mirboo North, with many accidents having occurred there, including a 2019 fatality.

Now chairman of the Strzelecki Highway and Darlimurla Road Intersection Action Group, Les Harmer, and wife Diana had only recently moved into their home near the intersection when they experienced a traumatic incident.

“We witnessed a 55-year-old man die after dropping his motorbike because he could not see (in time) that a car had stopped to do a right hand turn in front of him,” Les said.

He explained that there was a four wheel drive behind the turning car.

The accident occurred during daytime hours.

“It was broad daylight, so lack of light was not a contributing factor, but rather that there was no indication that a car was in a position to make that right hand turn,” Les said.

He said that it was not the turning driver’s fault, but rather the design of the intersection that lacks a dedicated right hand turn lane.

The action group is seeking Black Spot funding to enable the intersection to be fixed.

Specifically, the group is calling for the construction of dedicated right and left turning lanes from Strzelecki Highway into Darlimurla Road, and a dedicated passing lane on the highway at the intersection.

It is also seeking dedicated left and right turning lanes from Darlimurla Road onto the highway.

Improved lighting at the intersection is also being called for by the action group.

It held an April meeting at Darlimurla Community Hall to address the concerns of locals about the dangers of the intersection.

Prior to the meeting, the action group carried out traffic counts on April 7, before school holidays, and April 21, during the school holidays.

It counted vehicles turning both directions from Strzelecki Highway into Darlimurla Road as well as those turning either direction onto the highway at the intersection.

The counts took place between 7.30am and 6pm on both days, with 262 vehicles turning at the intersection on April 7 and 256 vehicles doing so on April 21.

The action group said that TrafTec data for the stretch of the Strzelecki Highway on which the dangerous intersection is located indicates that 4,300 vehicles travel along it daily.

That means that 6.1 percent of those vehicles are either turning off the highway at Darlimurla Road or onto it.

Darlimurla Road is an important connection between Mirboo North and Boolarra.

It is also used by people accessing the Grand Ridge Rail Trail at the Darlimurla Station.

Cr John Schelling presented a report released by the action group to South Gippsland Shire councillors.

His aim is for council to advocate to Regional Roads Victoria to make the intersection safer.

“The intersection’s always been dangerous because of the lack of sight of cars coming around the bottom hill there,” Cr Schelling said.

“It’s very hard to see cars coming up from the bottom as you’re approaching the Darlimurla turnoff from Mirboo North towards Morwell, so people prop there and make dead sure before they turn, and then people run into the back of them.”

He backed the action group’s calls for a solution.

“It just needs a simple turning lane to allow cars coming behind (those turning) to pass safely,” Cr Schelling said.

This scribe felt like a sitting duck turning right from Strzelecki Highway onto Darlimurla Road, having to wait for a truck while a bus approached from behind.

Les outlined the importance of establishing a dedicated left turn lane from Strzelecki Highway onto Darlimurla Road, as well as one for righthand turners.

“You’ve got to slow down to do a lefthand turn and then cars come around the outside of you and that’s on a double white line,” he said, explaining that drivers regularly veer onto the wrong side of the road to avoid those turning left.

As well as speaking to federal, state and local politicians, who have been supportive, to get action taken at the intersection and issuing their report, the action group is also collecting signatures on a petition to be submitted to South Gippsland Shire Council and VicRoads.