Locals are applauding the Victorian Government’s decision to approve a speed limit reduction for the Hamilton Highway in the Corangamite Shire Council local government area, saying their town is safer as a result.
The Government has reduced the speed limit outside the Elephant Bridge Hotel in Darlington from 80 km/h to 60 km/h.
Mt Elephant Ward Councillor, Nick Cole thanked Minister for Roads and Road Safety, Melissa Horne, for listening to the community’s concerns about the stretch of road.
“We’ve been advocating for it for a long time. I think one thing that really tipped the balance was the community meeting that was held,” said Cr Cole.
“We were advocating all the time about how Darlington was the outlier being 80kmh. All the rest of the towns along the highway are 60kmh.
“We’ve got emergency services and school kids accessing the roads, and trucks whipping through.
“We use Nuggets Flat for community barbecues and it’s where the fire truck fills up. We’d spoken to the minister about it. We brought it up and told her those things.
“It’s an easy fix. It’s only six signs. They’re not spending hundreds of thousands of dollars. It was all done in a day.
“It’s a common sense thing. Thankfully the government has done the job,” he said.
Town resident, Trish Wynd said there were crashes in the area every year, with the most recent collision shutting the highway for 12 hours.
“We have a safety issue with people leaving the pub straight onto the highway and trucks taking both lanes when they turn off the Camperdown road,” Ms Wynd said.
Turning into the town with limited visibility of oncoming traffic was also risky, she said.
“There was a highway meeting held a number of weeks ago for Lismore, Darlington and Derrinallum with issues of speed and incorrect driving manners.”
“About 50 people turned up from Derrinallum and a few from Darlington.
“We put a petition up at the pub which gained over 100 signatures looking towards 60 being the limit through the town.
“A number of residents wrote letters which were sent with pictures of accidents and petitions to Parliamentarians and government agencies.
“Since the signs have been up, traffic through the town has been much calmer,” Ms Wynd said.
“I think everyone is very hopeful that it will a make a big difference.”
