For more than a century, the Morton family have moved beef cattle along a dusty, dirt road in Mount Cottrell that they now have to share with speedsters.
The track is a ‘rat run’, or shortcut, between Hoppers Crossing and Melton, according to Trisha Megson, whose grandfather John ‘Alec’ Morton settled in the area in the early 1900s.
She and her father John Morton, now in his 80s, still move cattle between their land holdings divided by the road.
They say they are “shocked” at drivers whose speed puts them and their stock at risk.
Mrs Megson’s husband Greg said it was becoming too dangerous to move stock because the road was being used as a “race track”.
“Motorists don’t know how to deal with animals on the road. Some speed up and risk their lives and ours,” Mr Megson said.
“Our kids, Aaron, 21, and Kristine, 14, have grown up on horses and ride regularly on the road, but the dangers involved on this dirt road have become ridiculous.
“Drivers even swerve toward us as if it’s a game, while a lack of maintenance on the road sides, like open communication pits, make it dangerous to move off the road.”
Mrs Megson said while the family was one of the last farming enterprises in the area that drove cattle on the road, many horse riders used the back roads of Mount Cottrell.
“Cars fly down the road, they don’t care,” she said.
“But if they force horse riders on to the side of the road, it’s not safe because this area is small and has many hazards.
“The drivers wouldn’t fly around streets or roads in the urban areas, but they do here and we are just asking that they act responsibly.
“If they fly along and turn a corner and we have cattle and [people on] horses on the road, it can end in tragedy.”
