Fatal in Holt. Colliding with a roadworks truck.

Jethro said :

Surely finding the money to properly fix a stretch of road that sees collisions on an almost weekly basis should be a priority?

The traffic lights going in will help make safer the intersection where this collision occurred, but won’t do anything for Starke Street, and very well make it more dangerous as backed up traffic from the light makes it even harder for people pulling out of Starke to find a gap.

2 roundabouts would have been a much better and much more long-term solution. Instead we have a government that is willing to allow a known blackspot to remain dangerous because it will save a few bucks on roadworks.

Agree 100% as I said it should have been fixed a good 20+ years ago and also agree that a roundabout would have been the better option. Hope the lights they install have a red light camera system especially on the west-bound direction otherwise flogbags will without doubt try and run the red or speed on through. The real issue with Florey drive is the speed and regularity drivers come from Belconnen in particular.

LnBeyond said :

I couldn’t believe they didn’t put in lights or at least a roundabout when they last upgraded the intersection, how long ago, only one or two years ago?

Don’t recall any upgrades having been done at this intersection in recent times.

Jethro said :

Sigh.

I know that this intersection is in the process of getting lights, but until the government can actually find the money to fix the Starke St intersection a couple hundred metres down the road, this area will continue to have serious collisions.

Crashes happen on this stretch of road on an almost weekly basis. It beggars belief that funding cannot be found to properly fix it.

I understand that lights will be put in at Florey dr and eventually a roundabout at Starke st.

JC said :

cranky said :

This being the case, it is reprehensible that money has been expended on any other supposed road safety measures before this locations problems have been addressed.

For Govco to claim, probably incorrectly, that ONE death on Hindmarsh Drive warrants the introduction of point to point cameras, but is prepared to allow deaths to occur on Southern Cross Drive is simply a case of revenue raising being more important than keeping the citizens alive.

Some penny pinching bureaucrat, in conjunction with another unable to assess the dangerous results of his roadworks, is responsible for this death. I hope you know who you are.

That’s a bit melodramatic and shows a complete lack of understand as to how and where money is allocated by the government. Ever heard of a thing called priorities?

Surely finding the money to properly fix a stretch of road that sees collisions on an almost weekly basis should be a priority?

The traffic lights going in will help make safer the intersection where this collision occurred, but won’t do anything for Starke Street, and very well make it more dangerous as backed up traffic from the light makes it even harder for people pulling out of Starke to find a gap.

2 roundabouts would have been a much better and much more long-term solution. Instead we have a government that is willing to allow a known blackspot to remain dangerous because it will save a few bucks on roadworks.

Nightshade said :

Gerry-Built said :

I also have to wonder if traffic from MacWest is going up Southern Cross Drive to avoid the disaster that is Drake Brockman Drive – with 13 speed humps that need slowing to 40kph…

That’s Spofforth St with the speed humps, and the West MacGregor traffic is supposed to go up Southern Cross Drive. The speed humps were put there to discourage them from taking a short cut (and from speeding – a Roads ACT investigation found 15% of motorists exceeding 75 km/hr when the limit is 50 km/h). But the increased traffic volume creates problems on Southern Cross Drive as well.

I have never understood why Spofforth St is limited to 50. It is a very wide road, with a fenced golf-course 40m to the West of the road, and a 10m naturestrip before the footpath on the East side. There seems to be little reason to it, other than to discourage drivers using that road.

What they should be doing, is developing Spofforth as a more major route, leading through to Drake Brockman. Drake Brockman also has plenty of room for widening with undeveloped land on each side for most of the way. The current option seems to be to try to tweak 40 year old problems on the existing route, only now that more traffic is using the road.

This intersection was seriously dangerous before, but now worse than ever with the roadworks.
My first attempt at the intersection with the barriers up nearly saw me collide with another vehicle as we both realised at the same time that their lane had been reduced to half a lane.

I couldn’t believe they didn’t put in lights or at least a roundabout when they last upgraded the intersection, how long ago, only one or two years ago?

Sorry, something strange happened with the quoting in my previous post. I wrote the second paragraph, not Gerry-built.

Gerry-Built said :

I also have to wonder if traffic from MacWest is going up Southern Cross Drive to avoid the disaster that is Drake Brockman Drive – with 13 speed humps that need slowing to 40kph…

Gerry-Built said :

That’s Spofforth St with the speed humps, and the West MacGregor traffic is supposed to go up Southern Cross Drive. The speed humps were put there to discourage them from taking a short cut (and from speeding – a Roads ACT investigation found 15% of motorists exceeding 75 km/hr when the limit is 50 km/h). But the increased traffic volume creates problems on Southern Cross Drive as well.

RIP Stan. You’ll be missed by all in the Silver Service fleet. 🙁

“This is the third fatality on ACT roads this year.”

…. and the third in almost as many weeks. I was worried the “no fatalities in 12 months” announcement (http://the-riotact.com/a-year-without-road-fatalities/69033) would jinx everything.

Simon Corbell at the time said it was down to: “increased driver awareness, advances in technology and increased police patrols targeting traffic offences, I have no doubt that the introduction of RAPID has had an impact.”.

Looks like that statement was not so much the result of analysis but rather more about opportunism.

Maybe they can stop all the posing they do to pretend they are a “government” (eg, stupid opportunistic press releases) and get on with being the town council we want them to be.

Nightshade said :

All the traffic going to and from West MacGregor ensures that safe gaps are increasingly few and far between on this part of Southern Cross Drive…

I also have to wonder if traffic from MacWest is going up Southern Cross Drive to avoid the disaster that is Drake Brockman Drive – with 13 speed humps that need slowing to 40kph…

cranky said :

This being the case, it is reprehensible that money has been expended on any other supposed road safety measures before this locations problems have been addressed.

For Govco to claim, probably incorrectly, that ONE death on Hindmarsh Drive warrants the introduction of point to point cameras, but is prepared to allow deaths to occur on Southern Cross Drive is simply a case of revenue raising being more important than keeping the citizens alive.

Some penny pinching bureaucrat, in conjunction with another unable to assess the dangerous results of his roadworks, is responsible for this death. I hope you know who you are.

That’s a bit melodramatic and shows a complete lack of understand as to how and where money is allocated by the government. Ever heard of a thing called priorities?

Besides you raise a point about speed camera’s being revenue raising. Maybe stop and think that the revenue from speed camera’s is what has allowed the government to have the money to now make this a priority they can afford to fix. Guess the old chicken and the egg dilemma.

But yes this and the Starke Street intersection should have been fixed a good 20+ years ago.

PS does anyone know if the Southern Cross drive service road intersection between Starke Street and Florey Drive is going to be permanently closed? Hope so as it is yet another added complication at these two intersections.

oops. meant looking right up the hill, not left. Now even more dangerous!

Agreed, heading west down the hill on Southern Cross is dangerous when it merges into 1 lane at the tennis courts. The race is definitely on.

What’s worse is turning left out of Moyes cres (near tennis courts) onto Southern Cross. Not only are you turning onto the racetrack, but you’re doing so at the most dangerous point. You check the on-coming traffic by looking left up the hill where you see 2 lanes. As soon as you choose your time to go you realise that you’re right in the middle of a merge into 1 lane. It catches a lot of people off-guard. Stand at this intersection for 5 minutes and count how many horn-blasts you hear.

Tennis is awesome.

Quote from ABC online.

“There has been a number of fatalities at this intersection over the years and it is a known blackspot where there are collisions,” said Superintendent Kylie Flower.

This being the case, it is reprehensible that money has been expended on any other supposed road safety measures before this locations problems have been addressed.

For Govco to claim, probably incorrectly, that ONE death on Hindmarsh Drive warrants the introduction of point to point cameras, but is prepared to allow deaths to occur on Southern Cross Drive is simply a case of revenue raising being more important than keeping the citizens alive.

Some penny pinching bureacrat, in conjunction with another unable to assess the dangerous results of his roadworks, is responsible for this death. I hope you know who you are.

Yes, speed limits not being observed also probably played a part. 7.30am Sat morning is not normally a time when road workers are in attendance, the usual reason for reduced speed requirements.

My condolences to the gent’s family.

Whilst I also believe that the concrete barriers are creating a danger, I think the real danger is the speed that road users take on this road. That being said, the speeding of motorists is probably the reason these barriers have been installed temporarily to keep the roadworkers from harm – that I believe is more important.

Nightshade said :

Gerry-Built said :

There’s A lot To be said for waiting for a safe gap…

All the traffic going to and from West MacGregor ensures that safe gaps are increasingly few and far between on this part of Southern Cross Drive. I find it pretty hard to turn right out of Beaurepaire Cres onto Southern Cross Drive now, and don’t even try it in busy times. The people coming out of Florey Drive have even more east-bound traffic to contend with and grab whatever chance they can. Combined with the concrete barriers obstructing people’s view of the Florey Drive intersection, it’s not surprising this happened.

True but not at 7:30am on a Saturday morning!

Deckard said :

Jethro said :

Sigh.
Crashes happen on this stretch of road on an almost weekly basis. It beggars belief that funding cannot be found to properly fix it.

Agreed. The government has wasted its speed cameras in places they’re not needed while this intersection has been neglected for years. The speed limit through there is 40km/h at the moment due to the roadworks. Even so, with all the concrete barriers limiting vision it’s not surprising something sad like this has happened.

Agree with the sentiment and I was surprised to come through this afternoon to see the roadworks speed limit was covered and the normal 60km/h in place. This is one road works where it needs 40km/h 24/7 and policed heavily unlike some others around town (ie when they were doing the Kings Ave overpass). The bad thing with this one is cars turning left out of Florey drive, where once they had their own lane at present they need to pull out into the main through lane, so cars coming the other way need to be going slower and look out for someone doing something silly or not realising they no longer have their own lane.

I also reckon one lane should be blocked from the top of the hill heading west and the 40km/h started there. It has always been a race to get to the merge near the tennis courts, but is much worse now with people racing down to find cars slowing to 40km/h as they should. Putting the merge further up takes away the urge to race to get in front at the most critical point which is smack bang in the roadworks zone.

Anyway just another classic example of the inconstancies with ACT roadworks zones.

As for this accident doubt the barriers had much effect as the road towards the west is very visible from the turn out of Florey Drive. Seems just like most of the other accidents in the past that have made this such a bad intersection rather than something related to the roadworks.

Being a southsider, I’m not familiar with this intersection.

However, a look at Nearmap shows a similar layout to the Yamba Drive/Launceston/Wisdom St arrangement in Woden, where traffic lights have controlled the traffic for eons.

Why on earth has money been put into the point to point cameras when a really black spot like Southern Cross/Starke/Florey Drive has been permitted to continue creating mayhem for a similar period? The RA has been supplied with massive comment on these intersections over the years.

As a stop gap, as it seems road barriers are creating additional danger (fatal?), why not at least set up temporary traffic lights until the real ones are operational?

In this age of OHS, was any consideration given to the introduction of additional hazards during these works?

This should not have happened.

I went past the intersection earlier on, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a roadworks truck involved – it looked like a small delivery truck (ie, your basic white cab, with a white aluminum box on the back).

The truck ended up on its side off the other side of the road, facing westbound – so it’s managed to do a 180, and tip over. I’d be surprised if it was actually doing 40 at the time, and as others have mentioned, visibility at an already bad intersection has gotten worse with all of the concrete barriers during the roadworks.

I think there’s a pretty good case for putting in temporary traffic lights during the roadworks. Doing this may actually show our planners whether just putting lights on the Florey Drive intersection and doing nothing at Starke St will make Starke St worse too. At the least, they may help to avoid another person losing their life there.

Well, I thought this intersection was a 40km/h roadworks zone right now, so it amazes me how an accident could happen resulting in a fatality at this speed. I have noticed though that very few actually obey the limit here, now and before the work started. Sad for the family, I hope this gets some visual testament so that others will slow down and think of the consequences of their actions.

Gerry-Built said :

There’s A lot To be said for waiting for a safe gap…

All the traffic going to and from West MacGregor ensures that safe gaps are increasingly few and far between on this part of Southern Cross Drive. I find it pretty hard to turn right out of Beaurepaire Cres onto Southern Cross Drive now, and don’t even try it in busy times. The people coming out of Florey Drive have even more east-bound traffic to contend with and grab whatever chance they can. Combined with the concrete barriers obstructing people’s view of the Florey Drive intersection, it’s not surprising this happened.

…of course; that intersection as bad at the best of times. With the roadworks currently happening there – it is just that much worse. I noticed visibility is down considerably with the concrete barriers lining the insides of the intersection ATM (and presumably the sight-lines for approaching the intersection, therefore.

There’s A lot To be said for waiting for a safe gap…

Jethro said :

Sigh.
Crashes happen on this stretch of road on an almost weekly basis. It beggars belief that funding cannot be found to properly fix it.

Agreed. The government has wasted its speed cameras in places they’re not needed while this intersection has been neglected for years. The speed limit through there is 40km/h at the moment due to the roadworks. Even so, with all the concrete barriers limiting vision it’s not surprising something sad like this has happened.

“Crashes happen on this stretch of road on an almost weekly basis”
Mostly because of the douche bags that ignore the posted speed limit on this road. This accounts for about 75% of the users of that road.

Sigh.

I know that this intersection is in the process of getting lights, but until the government can actually find the money to fix the Starke St intersection a couple hundred metres down the road, this area will continue to have serious collisions.

Crashes happen on this stretch of road on an almost weekly basis. It beggars belief that funding cannot be found to properly fix it.