The absence of emergency help phones along the Western Highway has alarmed motorists travelling north towards Ballarat.
One driver seeking help last week found the emergency help phone was missing near the Pentland Hills Road turn-off.
He drove on, only to find the phone missing from a phone box near the Pykes Creek exit.
“It’s dangerous, especially with all the fatalities . . . and with students driving to and from university along this road,” he said.
VicRoads’ western region director, Ewen Nevett, said VicRoads had since been alerted to the missing phones and was working to replace them.
“VicRoads is made aware of damage and faults via reports from members of the community and routine checks by our contractor,” Mr Nevett said.
“Now it has been reported, our contractor will carry out necessary repairs.
“We believe the community is generally respectful of our help phones.’’
VicRoads has 36 help phones along the Western Highway between Long Forest Road, near Bacchus Marsh, to where the Western and Sunraysia highways connect near Miners Rest.
Mr Nevett said that between January 2010 and January 2014, only two calls were made from the Pykes Creek phone and none from the phone near Pentland Hills Road
He said this could be because most people now owned mobile phones.
VicRoads encourages road-users to report damage, vandalism and illegal activity to VicRoads by calling 13 11 70 or by calling local police.
