Tuesday, 5 March 2024

Sixteenth Street–Deakin Avenue, Mildura

Jade BENHAM (Mildura) (19:18): (559) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, and the action I seek is for the minister to visit Mildura to inspect the Sixteenth Street–Deakin Avenue intersection. This intersection has so far claimed two lives, while many others have suffered serious injury. State accident data shows that over a dozen crashes have been reported there between 2012 and February this year. All but two of these were cross-traffic collisions. Since 2009 there have been two fatalities in fact. One of those was in December. One of these collisions led to serious injuries. Fourteen other people had lesser injuries. So 16 people since 2012 have suffered injuries at this intersection.

As part of its master plan for fast-growing Mildura South, the Mildura Rural City Council has identified the intersection of Deakin Avenue and Sixteenth Street as needing traffic lights and has made requests to the government previously, but the community is swiftly running out of patience. The Mildura sporting precinct has seen an incredible amount of increased traffic movements. Trying to cross that intersection from Sixteenth Street when the footy is on, when the basketball is on, when there is a musical event on or when there is a seminar or conference at that precinct – honestly, you have to have the patience of a saint, and it is really easy to see how these collisions occur.

Traffic lights are vital, and they are urgently needed as a matter of public safety at this intersection. They should have been installed as part of the Mildura Sporting Precinct plan when that was built, because everyone knew – how could you not know – how busy that intersection would become, because the sporting precinct is right there. These are families taking kids to sport, to grand finals and to all the other events that occur there every day. We are not talking just about Saturdays here. There is currently a petition running on Change.org that has over 1100 signatures. I quote from that petition:

The frequency of these incidents is alarming – nearly one every quarter.

In fact we are almost at one a month.

This is not just a statistic but a grim reality for those living in proximity to this intersection, like my neighbour who is still shaken up from dealing with one such fatality.

…

The current design does not allow for roundabouts which could potentially reduce these risks; therefore, installing traffic lights becomes an urgent necessity. Traffic lights would ensure regulated vehicular movement and significantly reduce the risk of accidents …

and further fatalities. The action that I seek this evening is urgent action from the Minister for Roads and Road Safety to visit Mildura with me and to sit at that intersection to see firsthand how dangerous it is and how urgently we need traffic lights.