Motorists will be forced to slow down from 100km/h to 70km/h through a dangerous Barnawartha intersection from next week, but only when other traffic is in the area.
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The VicRoads trial is the latest attempt to stop crashes at the intersection of Murray Valley Highway and Barnawartha-Howlong Road.
Vehicles travelling along Barnawartha-Howlong Road towards the intersection will trigger an electronic speed sign, reducing the speed limit on Murray Valley Highway until they have cleared the area.
The “Side Traffic Activated Rural Speeds” are based on a New Zealand program, which resulted in an 89 per cent reduction in fatal and serious injury crashes.
VicRoads program director Bryan Sherritt told The Border Mail the idea of reducing the speed was to avoid a fatality or serious injury in the event of a crash and was confident it could work in Victoria.
“We know the human body can withstand a crash, but the lower the speed the better the outcome,” he said.
“We understand people don’t like slowing down, but you could save your life or someone else’s.”
Barnawartha is one of three locations to take part in the VicRoads trial, along with Wahring and Yalca.
The location was chosen because it was a “complex rural intersection” with a history of crashes, including a fatality in 2012.
It is the latest attempt to improve the black spot, after $800,000 was spent in 2014 to upgrade the intersection’s approaches with line-marking, new signs, right-turn lanes and traffic islands.
Mr Sherritt said the STARS program was part of a $1.1 billion road safety program introducing a range of initiatives including the wire barriers being installed on the Hume Freeway.
“We are powering the system using solar panels and wind turbines, so it’s very environmentally conscious,” he said.
The program will be assessed after about three months of the trial.
Benambra MP Bill Tilley said he wanted to see the outcome of the trial, but questioned if lowering speed limits was the best use of public funds.
“I’d rather better road infrastructure than having decreased speed signs on roads, without a doubt. We’ve got a lot of roads that need fixing rather than running these sorts of things, particularly when we’re fighting against the infrastructure spend that’s going on in Melbourne,” he said.
