A VICTORIAN Nationals MP fears road safety barriers being installed on the Calder Highway between Bendigo and Melbourne could cause an increase in vehicle collisions with kangaroos.
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VicRoads has been rolling out the wire safety rails, which are 76-centimetres tall and include four horizontal wires, on some of the state’s most dangerous roads in an attempt to reduce road trauma.
But member for Northern Victoria Luke O’Sullivan believes kangaroos were becoming stuck in the barriers or tripping and falling, causing them to become an increased hazard.
He told parliament he almost collided with a kangaroo near Nagambie, and then counted 33 dead kangaroos and five dead foxes on a 59-kilometre drive from Seymour to Wallan where the barriers have already been installed.
Mr O’Sullivan was concerned that the continued rollout of the railings closer to Bendigo could cause more collisions.
“I just wonder whether they are getting onto the road and getting stuck in between those wire barriers that we see have been erected,” he said.
“They are on the way up to Bendigo, they are on the way up to Ballarat, they are up the Hume Freeway as well and I know they are on the way down to Gippsland.
“I have had plenty of comments from constituents verifying the number of kangaroos up there. I think in the last couple of years after a couple of wet seasons the kangaroo numbers have really built up and they are becoming a bit of a pest.”
VicRoads is standing by the safety rails, which they claim are high enough for kangaroos to jump over and do not impede the movement of native animals.
Safe system road infrastructure program director Bryan Sherritt said regular breaks between the barriers gave improved access to road maintenance and emergency services.
“Flexible safety barriers reduce head-on and run-off-road crashes by as much as 85 per cent. Quite simply, they save lives,” he said.
VicRoads did not have data for collisions with animals since the barriers had been installed, because the rollout was not yet complete. They are being installed on the state’s 20 highest risk roads.
Mr O’Sullivan requested the collision data during his speech to parliament this week.
Between 2012 and 2016, more than 1000 people have been involved in crashes on the Calder between Bendigo and Melbourne.
Of those, 172 were serious injuries and 13 were fatalities.