Truckie Brad Rowe fears a new Covid compliance checkpoint just set up on the Western Highway near Ballan, Victoria, is an accident waiting to happen.
He sent us this picture to illustrate the inherent dangers after gingerly navigating his way through the treacherous area on the main highway from Melbourne to Adelaide earlier today.
“It is being set up in an extremely dangerous position where, without proper management, traffic will end up queued on the road on a blind corner at the bottom of a steep hill in a 100km/h zone,” said Rowe.
“I have attempted to report it to VicRoads via their road hazard line and was told ‘It’s not our department’.
“I was redirected to the DHS hotline who advised it was not their department either and was again re-directed to an answering service for lodging complaints against the health service.”
After filing his concerns with the automated service, Rowe also advised Bacchus Marsh Highway Patrol Division of his fears.
“I travel that road every day, making three or four trips a day, and I can’t think of a worse spot to stop traffic than at the bottom of that hill,” he added.
“It’s just got that look about it that if they’re not watching it properly and a queue does develop at the bottom of that hill, someone is going to come boring down there at 100km/h and there will be a carpark in the middle of the road.”
Rowe said a simple solution would be for police to use a weighbridge only 15 minutes up the road on a straight stretch of highway.
“I would hate to see a repeat of the disaster that took place on the Vic/SA border earlier this year.”
Victoria Police told us that if someone wishes to make a complaint about any aspect about policing they can do so from here:
https://www.police.vic.gov.au/compliments-and-complaints
“A number of considerations and safety aspects are taken into account when any traffic operation site is established.”
UPDATE: This story was updated at 5.04pm to include a comment from Victoria Police.