Road signs throughout a regional town have been vandalised, in what police believe is an act of protest against reduced speed limits on country roads.
Several speed limit signs near Churchill, Victoria, about a two-hour drive east of Melbourne, have been damaged — some have been sawn off, while others around the area have been painted over.
Police believe frustrated locals are behind the act, in protest of permanently reduced speed limits throughout the Latrobe Valley, the ABC reported.
In April, the speed limits on Hazelwood Road and Boldings Road in Hazelwood North were permanently reduced from 100 kilometres per hour to 80km/h.
In other parts of the Latrobe Valley, speed limits were reduced from 80 to 60km/h.
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Speed limits on Hazelwood Road and Boldings Road in Hazelwood North were permanently reduced from 100 to 80km/h in April.
(Google maps)Reduced speed limits could make roads safer
According to the Department of Transport and Planning, the new speed limits “provide a safer environment for road users”.
There were 16 crashes recorded along the stretch of Hazelwood Road and Boldings Road between August 2020 and August last year, they said.
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Speaking to Yahoo News last week, Australasian College of Road Safety chief executive Dr Ingrid Johnston said she was in full support of speed reductions, particularly on regional roads.
“We know that if you have a head-on collision at any more than about 80 kilometres per hour, chances are that the collision will be fatal,” Dr Johnston said
Resident backlash over reduced speed limits
Wellington police inspector Melanie Hamshere said police were investigating the vandalism, the ABC reported.
Signs across the Latrobe Valley were painted over after speed limits were reduced from 80 to 60km/h.
(Google Maps/ABC)
She said there are “obviously criminal offences being committed”.
“I don’t so much think they’re vigilante actions, it’s more people unhappy with the changes to the speed limits on the roads,” she said.
Many residents believe the slashed limits are a quick-fix solution to avoid maintaining damaged roads.
Others say the reduced speed has increased travel times and reduced productivity for regional workers, the ABC reported.
Martin Cameron, a Member for Morwell, has been vocal about the change to the speed limit, saying, instead, the council should be “fixing the bloody roads”.
“Hazelwood Road has been littered with ‘rough surface’ signs for nearly a decade, but instead of fixing the road itself, the speed limit is being reduced from 100 km/h to 80 km/h,” he said in March before the speed limit changes took place.
He’s in full support of a petition started by angry residents.
Martin Cameron, a Member for Morwell, is against the speed limit changes.
(Facebook/Martin Cameron for Morwell)30km/h speed limits being rolled out across Victoria
Meanwhile, across Victoria, the Allan government has backed a $28.7 million package to cut speed limits across the state, reducing many busy, local roads to just 30km/h.
The trial will apply to several council areas, including the Stonnington Council, Merri-Bek Council and the Bass Coast Council.
They have also green-lit a Geelong Council plan to lower speed limits in Portarlington Street as part of Victoria’s Road Safety Strategy.
The strategy aims to halve road deaths by 2030 and eliminate road deaths by 2050.
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