The Victorian government has maintained that wire rope safety barriers save lives following a rally in Melbourne involving Bendigo motorcyclists.
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Riders from the Bendigo area joined their counterparts from across the state at Parliament House on Tuesday to protest the use of wire rope safety barriers, arguing they posed a potentially deadly threat to motorcyclists.
One motorcyclist, Bernie Binns, said he found the barriers “quite terrifying”.
“It’s changed the way I ride, and I don’t enjoy riding as much as I used to because of them,” Mr Binns said.
But a spokesman for Roads and Road Safety Minister Luke Donnellan said the barriers prevented up to 85 per cent of head-on and run-off-road crashes, which claimed the most lives on country roads.
“So far this year there have been more than 800 recorded hits on wire rope barriers across the state – that’s hundreds of potentially life-threatening crashes avoided,” he said.
VicRoads’ Safe System road infrastructure program director, Bryan Sherritt, said the rollout of the barriers was based on evidence that showed they were “incredibly effective in preventing serious crashes”.
“Every state and territory in the country uses flexible safety barriers – they’ve been used in Australia for around 27 years,” he said.
Mr Sherritt said VicRoads was undertaking other safety improvements on roads used more often by motorcyclists, including rub rail and cushioning on barrier posts, improving the road surface, and installing curve warning signs.
“Unfortunately, motorcyclists are always more vulnerable on our roads because they aren’t protected by their vehicle,” he said.
About 2000 kilometres of new wire rope safety barriers are being installed on the highest risk rural roads, including the Calder Freeway.