Slow them down at Woolamai, they say

AS GOOD as the growth of Bass Coast is for business, it is having some unintended consequences and the residents of the small hamlet of Woolamai are feeling some of the backwash.

Fast cars and heavy vehicles (with the specific exception of slow-moving farm vehicles) are increasingly discovering a “rat run” route away from the Bass Highway, along Woolamai Road and down Turnbull-Woolamai Road, and they are hitting the tarmac there at fearful speeds.

Older residents and family groups who have to use the road to walk to the bus stop or to access the nearby rail trail, are increasingly taking their life in their hands, and they want the shire or Regional Roads Victoria to do something about it.

“A 60km/h limit is what’s needed,” says family man, Mark Cleverley-Robinson, with small children and a newly arrived baby.

Another resident Ande Lemon agrees.

“We’ve asked Regional Roads 

Victoria but they say it’s a council road, and the council tells us they have to follow RRV rules when applying for new speed restriction zones,” said Ande.

“But we’ve really noticed it over the past few years, with more and more people coming to Bass Coast to live. Plus, you have the heavy trucks going up to the dumpsite as well.”

The community group called on their local councillor, Deputy Mayor Cr Rochelle Halstead to come out and she arrived on Monday this week with a promise from the mayor that he will support a request for a speed restriction zone at Woolamai.

“Regional Roads Victoria has its guidelines but it shouldn’t be a cookie-cutter approach. We have a number of small hamlets across Bass Coast and it’s about finding the right solution for each of them,” Cr Halstead said.

So, expect to see a motion to a council meeting soon for a 60km/h zone at Woolamai, but in the meantime, please slow down!