By LIA SPENCER
A CFA volunteer has applauded Casey Council’s decision to review its traffic measures on a Hallam road after students were involved in a collision with a bus last month.
On 20 March, 31 students from a specialist school in Dandenong were on a bus when it was involved in a crash with a bus on Nettle Drive.
The driver of the car was taken to hospital with serious injuries while the driver of the bus and three students were also treated for injuries.
At a council meeting last week, Cr Wayne Smith moved that officers review the circumstances of the accident to confirm the Local Traffic Management Scheme for Nettle Drive that was adopted 22 January was still appropriate as a traffic calming measure.
Cr Sam Aziz said many people who live in the area around Nettle Drive have expressed their concerns to him about problems in the street.
Cr Aziz said he did not know the full circumstances of the accident and was not blaming anyone for it, but just wanted council to review the strategy in light of the crash.
“This issue came to light after a serious and terrible accident that happened (a few) weeks ago.
“You could hardly recognise the car under that bus,” Cr Aziz said.
“The feedback I got from residents around that street was that it’s notorious for accidents. This (accident) was one of many along that stretch of road.”
Hallam resident Ricardo Balancy, who is a volunteer with the Hallam Fire Bridgade and also a Liberal Candidate for Federal seat of Holt, was at the scene of the crash last month.
While he did not know the exact circumstance of the accident, Mr Balancy said there were several near misses on Nettle Drive and feared a fatality could occur if nothing was done.
“I use this road every day and there are cars parked on the side and it can be difficult to manoeuvre if drivers lose concentration, or are going too fast,” Mr Balancy said.
“You would like to rely on people doing the right thing but we can’t always, so it would be great to have devices which make people slow down like a traffic island or speed humps. We need to make it safer for all road users.”
Emerson School principal John Mooney thanked the police, CFA and the community members who offered their support after the crash.
He said he was proud of the bus driver, the school assistant and all the children for working together during the horrific incident.
Cr Smith’s motion was passed unanimously.
