Hume councillors are calling for a crackdown on drivers doing illegal U-turns on Sunbury Road near Melbourne Airport.
Councillor Jack Medcraft raised the issue at the council meeting on Monday last week, and fellow councillors echoed his calls for a safety push.
Cr Medcraft said he was concerned that people could lose their lives because some drivers are not following the road rules.
He called on the council to write to police and ask them to monitor the situation and issue fines. “I think this situation has become critical,” he said.
“Cr [Jack] Ogilvie and myself happened to see a car stop on the road at the back of the airport one night. It’s a 100km/h zone and [the car stopped] in the middle of the traffic … the car behind just missed it. It stopped to do a U-turn to park on the dirt area where the old dam was.”
Cr Medcraft said drivers were trying to find free parking near the airport, as there had been a crackdown on people parking along the Tullamarine Freeway.
Cr Ogilvie said the council needed to take it one step further and ask VicRoads to install barriers. He said more needed to be done than just monitoring of the road by police. ‘‘When police aren’t there, there will be a serious accident and someone will get killed.’’
Cr Drew Jessop said there had been a death on that section of the road a couple of years ago. Fawkner Highway Patrol Acting Senior Sergeant Darren Paterson said police were unaware of the problem.
“It is a legitimate concern and something we would look to enforce as it’s a 100km/h zone and very dangerous,” he said. “Now we are aware of it, I’ll look at sending members down there to keep an eye on it.”
VicRoad’s Damien Afxentis said safety barriers had been installed, along with double continuous lines and a U-turn ban sign to deter errant drivers. VicRoads has investigated placing bollards in the centre of the road, however there is limited opportunity to install barriers.
