A crash on the section of the Hume Freeway which has been reduced to a speed limit of 80km/h will not persuade VicRoads to revert the limit back to 110km/h in the short term.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
An elderly couple were left shaken, but not seriously injured, after driving into the path of oncoming traffic on the Hume Freeway at Wodonga on Wednesday.
Wodonga Sergeant Larry Goldsworthy said it would have been the driver’s “last accident” if the collision had occurred at a higher speed.
VicRoads did not respond to questions from The Border Mail asking if the 80km/h zone was working, or if drivers could be confident it was a safe section of road.
But regional director Nicki Kyriakou did confirm the freeway had not experienced the same level of serious crashes as before the change.
“Since the 80km/h speed limit was adopted in April 2015, there have been no fatalities or serious injury crashes,” she said.
Commenters on The Border Mail Facebook page were overwhelmingly against the lower limit and did not agree it was the correct solution to prevent injuries from crashes.
“Eighty km/h is a lazy solution ... no other section of the Hume has reduced speed limits between Melbourne and Sydney and there are plenty of intersections along the way. Just build a sliproad already,” Tarun Hari said.
Others put the pressure on VicRoads to fund a more permanent solution.
“This intersection has required an overpass and on off ramps for decades, the government just won't spend the money and try do a quick fix instead of doing the right thing,” Shane Mannik said.
VicRoads deputy chief executive Peter Todd told The Border Mail in May that crash data showed the freeway’s reduced speed limit had done its job, but “in the longer term, we may have to do something else”.