General News
18 January, 2023
Calder caution: calls to slow town speed
By CHRIS EARLINGLEWOOD residents want drivers to give their main street more respect. The new call for reduced speed and greater safety comes after Brooke Street was blocked for almost 10 hours on New Year’s Eve by an overturned B-Double. Publican...
By CHRIS EARL
INGLEWOOD residents want drivers to give their main street more respect.
The new call for reduced speed and greater safety comes after Brooke Street was blocked for almost 10 hours on New Year’s Eve by an overturned B-Double.
Publican Steve Weavell watched as the street was cleared. “We want traffic coming through town ... but we want them to travel at a safe speed.”
While designated a 50kmh zone, one bend approaching the main shopping blocks has an advisory 25kmh sign.
Residents have been increasingly vocal for the past two years about the speed some vehicles travel the narrow section of the Calder Highway.
“It’s the Calder Highway, not the Calder Raceway,” said Ian Collie as he joined friends at the weekend to urge Calder caution in Inglewood.
The 458km Calder Highway connects Melbourne with Mildura and passes through three Loddon communities - Bridgewater, Inglewood and Wedderburn.
Jenny Gooch lives opposite the dangerous bend. After the New Year’s Eve tipover, she said: “They (drivers) just need to slow down. Perhaps flashing lights are the answer to make people aware of the bend.”
Jenny’s son Corey said some drivers thought it was okay to speed through town.
Denis Rogers, who owns shops on the bend, said there had been numerous accidents over the last 30 years.
He remembers a truck load of oranges tipping in 1992.
And while the bend camber has been altered, accidents have continued.
Further along Brooke Street, business owners have been calling for greater action to make the main street safe. Antique store owner Catherine Norman has said that speed is a regular issue for people about to leave their cars to go shopping.
And Peter Moore, owner of the IGA supermarket and president of the town’s tourism and development committee, has called for speed warning signs at both ends of the main street.
Mr Weavell said: “We don’t want a bypass. We don’t want to see our livelihood diverted at Bridgewater and sent in the direction of Serpentine. We just want out main street safe.”
Regional Roads Victoria was contacted by the Loddon Herald for latest road use statistics for the narrow Brooke Street section of the Calder Highway.
In 2016, a petrol tanker overturned on another bend near the town’s golf club where the highway speed drops to 60kmh, lowered to 50kmh near the second bend. That rollover brought down powerlines and saw fuel spill onto the highway. Parts of the town were evacuated.
What action do you want to make Loddon main streets on the Calder Highway safe? Write to us at loddonherald@gmail.com