Truckies want to be safe
ACROSS Australia, 534,000 heavy vehicles are delivering the goods we need to keep our nation moving. And the people driving these trucks are no different to those sharing the road in cars, on bikes, or motorcycles: they all want to arrive home safely.
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The Commonwealth has announced more than $97.6 million in upgrades.
By working with the heavy vehicle industry, we are getting on with the job of providing safer and more productive freight network. Statistics show heavy vehicles are disproportionately involved in crashes involving fatalities, yet in about 80 per cent of fatal multiple-vehicle crashes, fault is not assigned to the heavy vehicle driver. This is a reminder of why we all need to remain vigilant on the roads, because every road user deserves to arrive at their destinations safely.
- Darren Chester, Infrastructure and Transport Minister
Do the least harm
WHAM is a community group involved with pressing VicRoads to reduce the impact of the huge road being built from Buangor to Ararat and beyond.
Our group has reluctantly conceded the next section of the Western Highway widening will happen in some form. So the group has altered its position on this section of road to push for siting the next section wherever it does least harm.
We've seen several professional opinions all agreeing that using the current highway to avoid a huge fresh cut through hills and splitting rare habitats will be far better, as long as the earthworks are restricted to what's needed for the road. With identical safety measures, and allowing for different vegetation qualities, there are several reports that say ground cover impact is less using the highway, and about a quarter the amount of trees would be lost and they would be smaller.
- Alanna Burton, Buangor
More than one opponent
A RECENT article in The Courier (September 9) regarding the Western Highway roadworks may have given the impression local resident Mairi Anne McKenzie is the only person opposing the current route. That is far from correct and would be inconvenient for VicRoads to acknowledge.
The WHAM Inc group also opposes the construction of a four-lane duplication in a southern deviation, and instead supports a two lane duplication using a narrow design, close to the existing highway. Much work has been done to prove that this is a viable alternative for safety and speed, with a fraction of the vegetation loss involved. VicRoads has been aware of this for over 18 months but chooses to ignore it, and in fact actively disparages it at any public information sessions.
It may be an inconvenient solution for them, but would result in much less reputational damage to the organisation than what is currently planned.
- Russell Pearse, Ararat
Letters unauthorised
LETTERS in support of local resident concerns about the impact of Western Highway roadworks in the Mt Langi Ghiran area, purportedly representing WHAM8 Incorporated (WHAM), are inaccurate and unauthorised.
WHAM holds as it highest priority the protection of roadside vegetation. The Mt Langi Ghiran roadsides are of very high conservation significance.
The south side contains the most easterly occurrence of an important heathy woodland otherwise only found in the Wimmera and several as yet unnamed species of melaleuca and grevillia, as well as other treasures.
It is gratifying to note that in this case, VicRoads has gone to a lot of trouble to avoid destroying it. We are sad nevertheless that the chosen route goes through private property which is much loved and valued by its owner.
- Helen Lewers, WHAM8 Incorporated
