Bridge too far for emergency ambulance

THE highway into Phillip Island was bumper-to-bumper at various stages over the Easter long weekend, but it caused particular problems for an ambulance, with lights and sirens going, accessing the Island early on Saturday afternoon.

An unbroken stream of cars filled Phillip Island Road from the Bass Highway turnoff to the bridge and beyond at around 1.30pm making it especially challenging for the ambulance crew on an emergency call,

Traffic attempting to negotiate the intersections into and out of San Remo added to the congestion, but it was on approach to the bridge that the ambulance encountered the most difficulty, waiting for drivers to manoeuvre their vehicles up on to the raised medium strip so it could get past.

The reason for the callout is not known, but clearly the traffic would have caused delays for the patient involved.

Clearly, you can’t always call a helicopter but the authorities need to address these issues, and agreeing to one of the Bass Coast Shire Council’s key priorities for State Government funding is an obvious place to start: “To improve intersection safety at major intersections along the Bass Highway and Phillip Island Roads”.