A call for Melton to investigate advocating for safety improvements to the “very dangerous” Vineyard Road and Plumpton Road corridor was knocked back last week by a majority of councillors.
At the May 26 council meeting, councillor John Verdon requested that council officers prepare a report looking into expanding council’s advocacy priorities to include upgrades to this corridor “as soon as practical.”
This was requested to include TAC data and the rate of development and types of development along this corridor.
Cr Verdon said that it is “very clear” that Vineyard Road “hasn’t been getting the attention it needs.”
“I note that the Star Weekly reported on [April 11, 2025] that the Melton Highway, which is part of our advocacy priorities, has recorded 83 injuries in the past five years, 29 of those injuries being serious,” Cr Verdon said.
“I’ve got the TAC data myself recently … which highlights that in the same five-year period, the Vineyard Road-Plumpton Road corridor [had] 92 people sustain injuries, 32 were seriously injured, and 60 had minor injuries,” he said.
He also said that according to another newspaper article, road deaths by suburb from 2010–2024 showed that Diggers Rest had the highest rate of road deaths in the state per capita, with five of the ten road deaths occurring in the Vineyard Road-Plumpton Road corridor.
While acknowledging the tragedies of vehicle accidents, councillor Kathy Majdlik said that she agreed with council officer’s comments and would “like to wait until the new council and wellbeing plan is endorsed.”
“I would also like to see the advocacy priorities, in this case roads … holistically, and look at the data and stats for all the major roads that are under the responsibility of the state or federal government that will then become council’s next group of road priorities over the next term,” Cr Majdlik said.
“It’s way too late in the piece to be expanding advocacy priorities at this stage,” she said.
Deputy mayor Lara Carli agreed with Cr Majdlik and said that waiting could mean more data and road use projections would be available to consider.
Cr Verdon disagreed with this sentiment and stood firm that “any accidents or road deaths are unacceptable and we need to get the ball rolling.”
When put to a vote, the majority of councillors voted against the proposal.
