By Liam McNally
A Melton woman has had three family members involved in car accidents on the Western Highway in a single year.
Michelle Hansford is a Melton resident of over 35 years who believes that road infrastructure hasn’t kept up with growth in the outer suburbs.
“We don’t have enough infrastructure to deal with the amount of traffic,” she said.
“The roads cannot cope with it.”
In 2021, Ms Hanford’s husband was rear-ended near Rockbank, her son was in a serious crash near Thornhill Park and her son-in-law had his car written off by a truck near Aintree.
The Western Highway is one of the six roads Melton council is calling on state and federal governments to help upgrade as a part of its Fix Our Roads Campaign.
Ms Hansford’s son and husband have both switched to jobs that are more local, to avoid having to use the Western Highway each day.
She said receiving a call that a family member has been involved in an accident is “horrific”.
“It’s really scary,” she said.
“I was beside myself, I could not believe how lucky they were to only have damaged cars.”
Ms Hansford said the regularity of accidents makes her worried about her daughter who still needs to drive into the city each day.
“Something needs to be done before more lives are lost,” she said.
More Melton residents have echoed Ms Hanford’s opinions. Zak Anvari said none of the highways have ever been up to standard in the decade he’s lived in the west.
“Our roads might have been fine in the ’90s but they’re not fit for today. I’ve had so many near misses merging onto the Melton Highway. Every highway and freeway is busy and extremely dangerous but we have to deal with it every day,” he said.
Melton Council’s Fix Our Roads Campaign is calling on state and federal governments to provide funding to:
– Upgrade the Western Highway;
– Duplicate and upgrade the Melton Highway;
– Duplicate Christies Road;
– Duplicate and upgrade Hopkins Road;
– Duplicate the Robinsons Road, Westwood Drive, Calder Park Drive Corridor; and
– Build the Calder Park Interchange.
Residents can sign a petition for the campaign at fixourroads.com.au
