Melton council wants VicRoads to cut speed limits on gravel roads by up to half.
Watts ward councillor Renata Cugliari put forward a notice of motion at last week’s council meeting, calling on Roads Minister Luke Donnellan, Police Minister Wade Noonan, local MPs and VicRoads to take action to reduce speed limits from 100 km/h to 50 km/h.
Cr Cugliari said the present speed limit compromised driver safety.
“There is restricted visibility caused by dust on unsealed roads – unsealed roads have a lower level of surface friction, there is often inadequate signage … no line marking exists to delineate traffic lanes, and drivers inexperienced in driving on loose road surfaces often lack control of their vehicles when speeds are up to 100 kilometres per hour,” she said.
Cr Cugliari was supported by fellow councillors, with mayor Sophie Ramsey expanding the motion to include reducing speed limits from “100km/h to 50km/h or, at the absolute most, to 80km/h,” in case VicRoads deemed the called-for speed reduction too drastic.
“I’d hate to see it fall through,” Cr Ramsey said.
Cr Cugliari urged all drivers to slow down on unsealed roads.
“We have, within our municipality, 150 kilometres of unsealed roads. Drivers are taking shortcuts through our unsealed roads, knowing that it is a 100km/h speed limit,” she said.
VicRoads North-West Metro operations director Brad Smits said there were some circumstances where a lower speed limit could be applied to an unsealed road for safety reasons.
“Any proposal to review a speed limit is considered on a case-by-case basis,” Mr Smits said.
