LRRCSC - INQUIRY INTO VICROADS' MANAGEMENT OF COUNTRY ROADS SUBMISSION NO: 152 RECEIVED: 12 JAN 2018

Submission: Management of Country Roads Submittor: Jane Hildebrant Postal Address: Email: Mob.:

11 January 2017

Terms of Reference

1. The effectiveness of VicRoads in managing country roads;

2. The existing funding model and its lack of effectiveness for country ;

3. The lack of consultation with regional communities and their subsequent lack of input into prioritising which roads are in dire need of repair; and

4. The option of dismantling VicRoads and creating a specific Country Roads organisation and separate Metropolitan Roads body.

1. The effectiveness of VicRoads in managing country roads VicRoads appears to lack a clear management plan for managing country roads. Talking to local drivers, the consensus is that roads’ maintenance is reactive and piecemeal and that vast sums of money appear to be being spent on works that are largely ineffective and therefore, a complete waste of money and time. This assessment was clearly articulated in the recent “Country Roads: Your Insights, Our Actions” report. I wholeheartedly concur with the findings of this report, viz.: “The desire for better links between regions, safer overtaking opportunities and investment in sealed shoulders were commonly raised, along with concerns about poor roadside drainage and pot‐holes… [as well as] greater transparency about what is happening on [our] roads” (p1).

This report states, p16 (10/19 online) that:

“The condition and maintenance of country roads was raised by many people throughout our engagement. Participants shared a need for VicRoads to “go beyond the reactive approach and ‘band‐aid’ solutions, such as patching or reducing speeds, to fix and maintain the country roads’’. The quality of road repairs was also raised and needs to be addressed.”

However, the proposal, p18 (online 11/19) to:

“Lower the risk to riders with a $2 million enhanced maintenance program to identify and fix small potholes and bumps that could be a hazard and remove loose material on bends at Page 1 of 10 some 200 recognised motorcycle touring routes” will simply not resolve the safety issues for road users be they motorcyclists, motorists or cyclists.

In addition to normal car traffic, our rural roads are subject to heavy traffic, milk and fertiliser trucks large farm machinery and increasingly cyclists. Rural roads’ infrastructure is rapidly deteriorating and is in a generally deplorable and dangerous condition. In particular, where the road meets the gravel edges, the asphalt constantly breaks up leaving ragged holes that are often quite deep. VicRoad’s current management response is a programme of continual patching. On some roads, there is quite a ridge between the asphalt and the gravel. On roads with a narrow asphalt strip, oncoming drivers must drive onto the gravel to give each other enough room to pass safely. Stone chips are often flown up. (Example: Lees Road, Briagolong). Briagolong‐Stratford Road In our case alone, we have had three float tyres stripped to the rims due to a rear float wheel falling into a pothole and bending the mudguard into the tyre. Changing a tyre on the side of the road with two heavy horses in the float on the roadside is not a pleasant experience. Have you ever had to try and wedge a jack and a board to stabilise the jack under a laden float? With traffic passing at 100km p/h, this is also a somewhat precarious operation. We have also had to replace a $1200 windscreen due to a stone chip flung up by a passing vehicle from the gravel edge. Apart from the patching which breaks up almost immediately, VicRoads’ answer has been to place an annoying ripple strip along the centre white line, presumably to make drivers keep to the road edge. However, to avoid the dangerous, rough potholed edge, which if hit is, to say the least, murder on car suspension and, at worst, could cause a vehicle to flip if hit at speed, one must drive more to the centre. This is also hazardous, especially if pulling a horse float, due to oncoming traffic, obviously. The crunch comes when an oncoming vehicle forces one to drive over the pothole or lumpy patch. The car bounces into the air before landing hard back on the road. An inexperienced or non‐alert driver could easily incur a nasty accident, especially if the pothole is on a bend. To add insult to injury, just before Christmas, Vic Roads repainted the centre line and painted lines along the road edge. A cosmetic touch which does absolutely nothing to improve the road surface and a further waste of money! Everyone I speak is horrified at the money being wasted and the ineffective result. We all despair! Apart from this, one must keep an eagle eye out for wildlife – kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, echidna possums, tortoises, lizards and birds, and occasionally a stray cow or lamb. The roadkill numbers are distressing. Why can’t VicRoads post “Wildlife Crossing” warning signs at the spots where most animals are killed – at Blackall Creek Bridge (many wombats); adjacent Red Gum Reserve between Freemans/Lees Road and Cemetery/O’Connor intersections, in particular? Also, the timely removal of dead animals would be helpful. As it is, bodies lie on the roadside until they are completely decomposed. Nonetheless, a grisly warning to motorists.

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Blackall Bridge Blackall Bridge Briagolong‐Stratford Road Where the bridge meets the road there are raised edges which lurch the car as it crosses them. These ridges are unavoidable being on both sides of the bridge in both directions. VicRoads is well aware of this hazard but instead of fixing it, they have placed a “Rough Surface” on the side facing Briagolong, but, for some unfathomable reason, not in the other direction. Why can’t VicRoads construct the crossing so the asphalt is the same height as the concrete bridge? Note: this is a spot where wombats often cross and are killed. Between the Stockdale Road/ Briagolong‐Stratford Road intersection and the 80km speed sign there is a crest in the road. Right on the crest on both sides are two separated patched areas that form uneven humps. The hump travelling into Stratford (east side of road) is slightly higher. Again, the car lurches over the humps unseating and jolting driver and passengers alike. At least the driver has the steering wheel for a bit of stabilisation but the passenger must cling to whatever she can grab on to. A “Rough Surface” sign has been posted on the east side for over a year but, as with the bridge, there is no sign on the west side. The locals know this hazard and are prepared for it. But what of others? These humps have been there for ages. Absolutely nothing has been done to fix them. Why? Maffra‐Stratford Road This is the main road between Maffra and Stratford. It carries heavy vehicles, caravans, farm machinery as well as cars and bicycles. This road was in a deplorable and very dangerous state. Large sections of rough, uneven patching extended right to the centre line on both sides. Patching works were being done to no avail. All one can say is that the road crews just add to the danger. However, driving on it last week, there seems to have been some more extensive sealing in some sections. The edges are still unsealed. Maffra‐Sale Road It has been reported in the local media that local school bus drivers warn that, in an emergency, the metal barriers will prevent bus doors from opening. This road carries a lot of traffic. www.gippslandtimes.com.au/story/5051990/road‐barriers‐block‐buses (14 Nov, 2017). The following Letter to the Editor confirms these concerns (Alice Munro, Gippsland Times, 21 Nov 2017):

“Thank you to Geoff Higgins and the Gippsland Times staff for raising the issue regarding safety on the Maffra‐Sale Rd. I have felt for some time that rather than creating a safer environment, these barriers have introduced a serious safety problem. Recently I was driving to Maffra, following at a safe distance behind a school bus. When it stopped for young passengers to alight, we all had to stop as the bus was a metre over the road and there was oncoming traffic. I feel for the bus drivers as they have no other option. As yet I haven't encountered a farmer moving farm machinery, but no doubt it will happen.

Obviously a lot of money is being spent, but the bottom line is that the road needed to be widened and upgraded long ago, with safe passing lanes and a bike path, then possibly there would be no need for these so‐called "safety" barriers.

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Were locals consulted about this issue, or is this another example of people in the city with their good ideas?”

If VicRoads” Policy is to “Reduce rough roads as part of a major uplift in regional road maintenance”, p18 (0nline 11/19), the only solution is to follow the Canadian practice of sealing all edges and doing this in association with a total road re‐seal. Constant patching is useless and is a complete waste of time and money.

Princes between Stratford and Sale () Apart from a couple of gentle bends, this section of the is straight and open. In my memory, in the past 15 years, there has only been one accident which involved a vehicle being hit when turning right into a side road. Consequently, the current works, which include the installation of wire and metal safety barriers seems completely unnecessary. But they raise safety issues. In the event of an accident or other emergency, especially involving a large truck rollover and, where vehicles may be on fire, will emergency vehicles have enough room to park due to the narrow distance between centre barriers and the road edge, which, in many cases, also has barriers, and allow traffic to pass? In that event, do the police plan to close the road as they did recently at Bendelong, NSW? In such a case, how will motorists be able to go to the toilet or remain hydrated in scorching days, if they are stopped for what could be hours?

How do emergency vehicles coming from the other direction get across the barriers when sometimes seconds count? Due to the length of centre barriers, emergency vehicles would have to travel several kilometres before they could execute a U‐turn.

Failure of Risk Management Policy

“The community expects Government to be vigilant – to be alert and respond to the full range of potential harms that comprise the safety, security and wellbeing of Victorians. In order to meet this expectation and achieve its strategic objectives, Government must be prepared for risk. It needs its public sector to be productive, innovative and efficient, anticipating and managing the risks that could affect the delivery of its policy agenda.”

Inter alia, “Government needs to have confidence that the public sector can deliver services to the community and: employs value‐for‐money risk solutions” (Victorian Risk Management Practice Guide, VMIA 2016, p2/51).

CFA concerns that wire rope safety barriers installed along 2000 kilometres of Victoria's roads will block their access to crashes and grass fires and hinder their capacity to fight fires are echoed in this Letter to the Age from Ian and Sylvia Henry, Mount Martha (10 January 2017, online):

“Trapped without escape Over the past seven years, we have driven the ( to Wodonga) on a monthly basis. During this period, the construction of safety barriers has been progressing constantly on both sides of the highway. Of major concern is that in the event of a fire, many motorists could be trapped in their vehicles with no reasonable opportunity to escape.

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The Victorian government and road authorities appear to have forgotten the devastation of the 2009 Black Saturday fires, starting around Kilmore and heading to Kinglake with the loss of more than 170 lives. Fanned by 100km/h winds, this event will occur again – sooner rather than later, taking into account how climate change events are more prevalent around the world. The government will need deep pockets to fund compensation claims compounded by the lack of escape routes.”

In this context, what is truly disturbing, is that having acknowledged that the CFA’s concerns are real, VicRoads now admits it will have to retrofit kilometres of barriers at a cost of $2 million per kilometre! This points to a complete failure in risk assessment analysis (which is contrary to the Victorian Risk Management Framework). Such analysis is a critical component of project planning which must also include stakeholder consultation. It also seems that VicRoads has also ignored its own report: Road Bushfire Risk Assessment Guideline and Risk Mapping Methodology (posted on VicRoads’ website).

The approach taken by VicRoads spokesman, Mr Sherritt that: "We have worked with stakeholders, you pick up things, you learn things, you change it as you go through” (See Appendix 1) is simply not good enough; it is sloppy, wasteful of time and precious resources and demonstrates that proper governance over strategic planning processes is lacking.

To illustrate further widespread public concerns, these comments appeared in recent Letters to the Age with the Editor’s caption: You don't have to ...... Be a roads scholar: “A serious issue relating to safety barriers ("Road safety barriers leave no margin for error", The Age, 27/12) is their closeness to the road. In the event of a breakdown there is very often too little room for the car to safely park beside the road, endangering the car and other road users. Certainly one would be risking life to attempt to change a tyre in such circumstances” (Christopher Monie, Golden Point).

“While VicRoads are retrofitting the wire rope barriers along the Calder they may as well start doing the same on the Princes Highway. On sections between and Melbourne there are many sections where the kerb side barriers are unacceptably close to the fast lane. Before the barriers it was possible to get well off the road in event of break down or similar. There was no reason why these barriers could not have been set back much further from the road edge. The current positioning will result in fatalities.”

Barrier to safety

“Far from keeping us safe, wire rope safety barriers installed along roads (The Age, 27/12) endanger our lives. Years ago when my car skidded across a wet road, it came to rest on the rough, grassy slope abutting the road. No one was hurt. If wire barriers had been in place, my children and I would quite likely be dead because my car would have bounced off the safety fence and been forced back in front of the oncoming vehicles. Frequently I see these safety barriers in similar places where motorists might be unscathed if they drove off the road but possibly killed if they hit the barrier” (Jenny Moxham, Monbulk).

2. The existing funding model and its lack of effectiveness for country Victoria

In my area, main roads are managed by VicRoads; minor roads are managed by Wellington Shire Council. In large part, the responsibility for maintaining minor roads falls on local Page 5 of 10

government, albeit with some Federal grants, though the amount of funding has declined over the years which means, unlike their Metropolitan Melbourne counterparts rural ratepayers are increasingly shouldering the financial burden for roads’ maintenance. This puts an unacceptable strain on rural council budgets and reduces expenditure on other services, especially when compared to Metropolitan councils’ road maintenance responsibilities. Yet, all Victorians, not just country people use our rural roads. A Systems Approach to Road Safety

An Interesting Article entitled Road safety needs a rethink to address broader society's problems published in The Conversation by Paul Salmon, Adam Hulme and Gemma Read, University of the Sunshine Coast; Jason Thompson, University of Melbourne; and Roderick McClure, head of the School of Rural Medicine at the University of New England argue that the “safe‐systems view of road safety, which defines the boundaries of the road system as drivers, vehicles and roads, has largely run its course.”They recommend that a “new, systems‐thinking‐based approach is required that considers the broader societal systems whose effects manifest inside the road system. This requires the breakdown of silos between the fields of public health, workplace safety, urban planning and road safety.”

3. The lack of consultation with regional communities and their subsequent lack of input into prioritising which roads are in dire need of repair

The reaction from people from my local community to current roadworks demonstrates that community consultation is deficient. Motorists and emergency agencies alike are mystified and even angry by the haphazard way repair works are being conducted (See Appendices 1 and 2). Local road users would very much appreciate being informed about proposed works. The recent consultation held in Stratford (See Appendix 2) is a start but stakeholders want the ability to provide input early in project planning. In the case of input from emergency services, like the CFA, early input would ensure works are designed to accommodate their safety requirements, avoiding time and money wasted in having to “retrofit” works post installation.

The statewide consternation (as reported in the media) over the restrictions caused by the barriers, including from the CFA, indicates in adequate (or no) community consultation, even notification. Clearly, the evidence that these barriers will reduce accidents and deaths (as one Victorian police spokesperson averred) has not been presented to the community. The barriers have simply appeared with no explanation. No wonder people are sceptical. This is no way to introduce new policy.

Country Roads, Your Insights, Our Actions: Promoting Cycling Tourism, p20 (online 12/19) states:

“While historically the road network wasn’t designed for cyclists and trucks to share narrow sealed roads, many people raised the need to plan ahead for shared paths and safer shoulders in future road upgrades.”

Cyclists on rough country roads are a very real and hazard for motorists. Frankly, their behaviour is terrifying. Due to the gravel shoulders and the potholed edges, they ride in the middle of the lane. They pay no heed to traffic coming behind them. It is often quite

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dangerous to have to travel so slowly behind them, especially when they are cycling in groups. I have seen oncoming drivers, impatient at being held up, swerve around cyclists and cross to the wrong side of the road alarming the opposing driver. A head‐on collision is not unexpected.

Often cyclists are invisible, dressed in dark clothing and with no lights; they meld into the grey asphalt. Once to my absolute horror, I encountered a cyclist riding a prone bicycle on a dark night on the Princes Highway just near the Stratford rail bridge. With no lights and so low to the ground he was invisible until I was almost level with him. Being higher up, I suspect that a truck driver would not have seen him. However, if he had been struck by a vehicle, it would have been the hapless driver at fault.

The condition of country roads will need to be vastly improved before cycling tourism can be promoted as safe for cyclists and motorists alike. Otherwise, there will be more cyclists killed and injured on country roads. Until then, cyclists should be compelled by law to wear visible clothing and lighting.

4. The option of dismantling VicRoads and creating a specific Country Roads organisation and separate Metropolitan Roads body.

Given current policy deficiencies, the idea of creating a separate Country Roads organisation is worth exploration. (Is this a proposal to return to the former Country Roads Board?) However, such an organisation should be regionally‐focussed, like other statutory authorities e.g. Catchment Management Authorities, Water Corporations, to facilitate greater local community input and to reduce cumbersome centralised bureaucracy. ______Appendix 1 Road safety barriers leave 'no margin for error', country fire captains warn ‐ [email protected], The Age, 26 December 2017:

Wire rope safety barriers installed along 2000 kilometres of Victoria's roads are blocking CFA access to crashes and grass fires, triggering warnings that Victoria's firefighting capacity could be hindered this bushfire season.

Four CFA captains of country brigades in Victoria's north‐west and north‐east say that a multi‐million dollar Andrews government strategy to install flexible wire rope barriers along country roads is forcing firefighters to take life‐threatening risks to carry out their duties.

VicRoads has admitted it will now have to "retrofit" barriers along parts of the Calder Freeway – costing about $2 million to install per kilometre on complex roads – due to a lack of emergency service access.

The barriers, which consist of highly‐tensioned wire rope supported by steel posts, are designed to avoid head‐on and run‐off crashes. They will be installed along 20 high‐risk rural roads and median strips by the end of 2019, at the cost of $450 million, as part of a $1 billion road safety package.

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Firefighters and emergency service controllers support the need for the barriers, but say a lack of consultation with first‐responders has resulted in serious oversights in its design.

For instance, VicRoads' Safe System Road Infrastructure Program director Bryan Sherritt said there must be a break in the barriers every 500 metres to one kilometre, to allow for emergency service access.

But Mr Sherritt admitted that in some areas the breaks were less frequent. This has forced emergency services to travel extra kilometres before reaching their destination, significantly increasing response times. In some cases, fire crews have risked their lives by driving into oncoming traffic to access the closest opening.

"We could be delayed up to five minutes," said CFA Elphinstone captain Andy Chapman. "That's a long time if you have someone in a car getting burnt ... it's too long." Mr Chapman warned that if a grass fire breaks out along a highway, motorists will have "nowhere to go". "The barriers reduce the space in which they can move," he said.

Internal reviews of six crashes over the past six months along the Calder Freeway between Faraday and Malmsbury have found that Mr Chapman's crew was severely hampered by the wire barriers on every occasion.

In August, firefighters travelled 200 metres in the wrong direction to access a burning car off the Calder, near Elphinstone, to avoid a five‐kilometre detour.

Previously, his crew would have used the median strip to cross the highway and safely park their vehicles, but a recent decision to install a barrier along both sides of the median in some sections, instead of one down the centre, has blocked access.

VicRoads' guidelines stipulate that safety barriers should ideally be installed four metres from the traffic lane to allow vehicles to stop clear of traffic. But they are being installed closer in some areas, leaving insufficient space for fire trucks to safely park.

Other reports include:

 Andrew Wilson, captain of the Harcourt Valley brigade, said his crew's response time to a median strip grass fire south‐east of Bendigo in mid‐November was delayed due to the the barriers cutting off access.  Anthony White, SES controller in Sunbury, said seven‐metre trucks cannot do U‐turns on narrower roads with ropes on either side, or cross over the median strip in emergencies.  Josh Gamble, captain of the Kyneton brigade, said his crew's response times to a car entrapment one month ago and a grass fire mid‐year were delayed, due to a lack of barrier openings.  Max Cox, a retired CFA volunteer of 65 years, after serving as Euroa group officer, said the wire ropes hindered firefighter access to a grass fire on the Hume Highway.

Experienced traffic engineer and former Planning Panels member Des Grogan warned that wire ropes were being installed too close to carriageways, in a letter sent to VicRoads and Minister for Roads and Road Safety Luke Donnellan one month ago. But Mr Sherritt said

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research showed that having the barriers closer to the carriageway stopped vehicles from rolling over.

VicRoads consulted with the CFA, Mr Sherritt said. "We have worked with stakeholders, you pick up things, you learn things, you change it as you go through. "The work on the Calder is not lost, but we might need to go back and retrofit a couple of things."

Acting Minister for Roads and Road Safety Philip Dalidakis said evidence showed that the barriers reduced the risk of head‐on and run‐off‐road crashes by 85 per cent. "Dozens of people" hit barriers across Victoria this year, with the barriers "almost certainly preventing deaths and serious injuries" in many cases, Mr Dalidakis said.

Since their installation, wire ropes along the Hume Highway have been hit 65 times, 44 on the Princes Highway and 26 on the Calder Freeway.

Nationals MP Steph Ryan said CFA volunteers in her Euroa electorate warned that rope barriers would "make fighting a fast‐moving grass fire on the Hume Highway more difficult".

______Appendix 2 Highway barriers ‐ Alex Ford, Gippsland Times, 21 Sep 2017, noon

STRATFORD residents turned out in large numbers to have their say on proposed safety upgrades on the Princes Highway at the Stratford Mechanics Hall on Wednesday night…

The centreline wire rope barrier proposal for the highway between Stratford and was met with an angry response from emergency services and motorbike riders, though the staff patiently responded to the criticisms, saying it was a rare opportunity to upgrade the highway. The road would be widened to accommodate the wire barrier, and there would be a wider shoulder, with provision for trucks to turn around. Consultation with landowners and emergency services would determine where breaks in the barrier would occur.

Funding for the project, which will also include resurfacing, is provided by the TAC as part of its Towards Zero program, encouraging a holistic approach to road safety. Towards Zero’s Safe System Road Infrastructure Program director, Bryan Sherritt, said it was a genuine consultation.

“The information we get tonight will actually inform the design, make it better, make it work, and make it safe,” he said. “With the design, we’re starting with some roadworks, some widening, which is always a good thing, but the design is eminently adjustable, you can make changes and move things if they aren’t right.”

Mr Sherritt said there was data to show wire rope barriers would save lives, and had led to an 85 per cent reduction in the accident rate on roads where they were installed.

“This is about stopping the crashes, and managing the energy in crashes — when your car hits that wire rope barrier, the barrier takes the energy out of the car and stops your vehicle,” he said. “We see a lot of hits in places around the state, and we don’t know who’s

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hit them because they’ve driven away, that’s a great sign — you don’t want them to hit a tree, roll over, hit another vehicle — the barriers will stop you, and that’s a great outcome.”

While he understood motorcyclists were vulnerable around barriers, he said there was no evidence that wire rope barriers were more dangerous than any others, though there were barriers with ‘rub‐rails’ that could help.

“There’s no evidence to say it’s more dangerous than any other type of barrier, the whole myth about the cheesecutter thing is that the wires will cut you — there’s no evidence to say that’s the case at all, we know the posts are more dangerous to motorcyclists, they’re a rigid thing,” he said.

Members from local emergency services expressed their concerns with the plans, hoping for more engagement before the plans were finalised.

The CFA’s District 10 operations manager Allan Rankin said he was keen to take the opportunity to engage with the project and work through a range of scenarios.

“It’s unfortunate some consultation could have occurred earlier but didn’t,” he said. “Now there’s an opportunity to sit down and have conversations, and input local knowledge to the team.”

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