“Dangerous”, “cheese shredders”, “just a mess”.
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These are just some of the words used to describe the controversial wire rope barriers being rolled out by the state government on high-risk roads, which have caused headaches for road users and emergency services.
Elphinstone’s fire brigade captain recently said there were insufficient breaks in the barriers on the Calder Highway median strip, which allowed fires to develop when perhaps they shouldn’t.
And some of those breaks, captain Andy Chapman said, were difficult to turn around in, adding precious seconds onto time-sensitive operations.
The state government’s road minister Luke Donnellan this week asked VicRoads to review the flexible barriers’ installation at a section of the Calder Highway near Castlemaine.
According to the government, VicRoads installed the barriers in line with the CFA’s policy position on wire rope barriers, which states gaps should be present at least every one kilometre.
Ideally, gaps would be every 500 metres, the CFA’s policy position paper states.
The Bendigo Advertiser drove down the Calder Highway from the Castlemaine turnoff to Malmsbury East Road, counting 24 breaks in the barriers over 28 kilometres, at an average of 1.16km per gap.
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Around a third of those gaps were large and signposted at numerous intervals before the break itself, while the rest were narrow.
Mr Donnellan said each road upgrade is designed according to that particular road’s conditions and use.
“The bottom line is, flexible safety barriers save lives – that’s why we’re investing in them,” he said.
On the Calder Highway in the five years to June 2015, there were nine fatalities and 86 serious injuries, but the government could not confirm how many of those were head-on collisions.
The barriers on the Calder Highway were hit 136 times last year.
As part of the review, VicRoads will map the barriers, including the location of access breaks, and will train CFA and other emergency services on how to work with the barriers.
The new barriers have also been criticised by motorcyclists, who fear the rope acts as a “cheese shredder”, while the Opposition has vowed to halt the statewide installation of wire rope barriers along some of the state's most dangerous roads if it wins government this year.
The wire ropes are now being installed along 20 high-risk rural roads as part of a $1 billion road safety package.
