Survey: roads we rage about

Lisa Humphries
Local motorists have named their most-hated traffic bottlenecks in a new statewide survey.
RACV traffic and roads chief engineer Peter Daly said responses to the RACV Redspot survey indicated Geelong was developing “big city-style” congestion.
Survey respondents said the worst bottlenecks in Geelong were the roundabout at Barrabool Road and Shannon Avenue and the intersection of St Albans Road and Kilgour Street.
Roads like Bellarine Highway and Mount Pleasant Road, Belmont, were also frustrating for local motorists.
Torquay drivers complained about the intersections of Surf Coast Highway with Bell Street and Beach Road.
Mr Daly said the Colac-Lavers Hill Road was also a “huge problem”.
City of Greater Geelong motorists nominated 23 traffic lights as pet hates. Eighteen of the lights were at intersections.
Mr Daly said the biggest problems at the local bottlenecks were congestion, delays and difficulty turning.
Redspots, the RACV’s name for snarl-prone points on the road network, were no longer a feature of Melbourne alone, he said.
“What I think we’re seeing in Geelong as its population grows is more big city-style congestion, especially in the morning and afternoon commutes,” Mr Daly said.
“The problem really does appear to be a community problem and is causing all sorts of delays.”
Mr Daly said authorities should act on the survey results.
“Congestion imposes a considerable cost on the community,” he said.
“Motorists pay enormous amounts in taxes and charges and they expect and deserve a safe and efficient road system in return.
“Motorists have spoken and now it’s up to the councils and governments to fix the problem.”
Mr Daly said governments allocated more than $300 million to fixing redspots after the last survey in 2004.
More than 6000 exasperated Victorian road users responded to the 2006 survey.
Mr Daly called it the “voice of the community”.
The survey gave irritated motorists a “rare opportunity to be heard loud and clear”, he said.