RACV reveals Melbourne’s worst roads and intersections

The Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV), has released findings from its ‘My Melbourne’ road safety survey.

Of roughly 5,150,000 Melburnians, 5000 responded to the RACV’s survey helping identify the intersections perceived as the most dangerous in the city.

“Of the 5000 safety concerns raised by participants, intersection safety was the area of greatest concern, followed by unsafe behaviours of other drivers, such as speeding and erratic driving,” said RACV head of policy, James Williams.

“One-third of participants also identified that a lower speed limit on their nominated road would improve safety”, Williams said.

UPDATE: Jump to feedback from commenters and VicRoads' response.

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“The results remind us that safety is not just about safer speeds and safer roads, but driver behaviour. We are seeing a direct link between drivers taking increased risks when there are high levels of traffic congestion” reads the foreword written by RACV executive GM, Phil Turnbull.

With various complaints and issues raised, the respondents were also encouraged to provide solutions that Mr Williams deemed encouragingly simple fixes to problems.

The RACV will distribute the findings of the survey to relevant local governments and advocate for the identified roads to be improved.

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Melbourne’s 10 worst roads and intersections – ranked

1. Mount Alexander Rd – Essendon, Moonee Ponds, Ascot Vale
   Several confusing roundabouts, dangerous for pedestrians attempting to cross and lack of safe bike riding infrastructure
2. Dandenong Road – Windsor, Prahran, Caulfield
   Pedestrian crossings inadequate for school children, inappropriate clearway times causing risky merging and sudden drops in speed not well observed.
3. Sydney Rd – Brunswick, Coburg
   Unsafe interaction between motorists, cyclists, pedestrians and trams.
4. North Rd – McKinnon, Oakleigh, Clayton
   Speed zone inconsistency, unsafe driving and disconnected cycling path.
5. Calder Fwy – Keilor Park, Keilor, Taylor lakes
   Unsafe driving, with heavy congestion inducing risk-taking behaviours.
6. Clyde Rd/Berwick-Cranbourne Rd – Berwick, Clyde
   Unsafe driving, with heavy congestion inducing risk-taking behaviours. Insufficient separation of cyclists.
7. Point Cook Rd – Point Cook, Seabrook
   Unsafe driving, with heavy congestion inducing risk-taking behaviours. Insufficient separation of cyclists.
8. St Kilda Rd – Melbourne
   Motorists and cyclists experiencing confusion since the cycling infrastructure upgrades. Further awareness and education required to mitigate this perception issue.
9. Barkly St/Hopkins St – Footscray
   Inadequate or missing bike infrastructure, narrow footpaths and heavy trucks mixing with bike riders.
10. Western Fwy – Melton, Rockbank
    Two lanes insufficient to service major growth area (Melton) / absence of adequate merging lanes and overall road quality insufficient for demand.

Do you agree with the RACV's findings? Let us know your least favourite roads and intersections in Melbourne below.

What are the key issues?

Motorists regularly identified confusing intersection design as a danger on the roads, with a third of respondents suggesting lower speed limits in certain areas would improve safety.

The RACV noted that plenty of respondents identified issues with cyclist and pedestrian infrastructure in Melbourne. Cyclists and pedestrians proposed more zebra crossings and improved traffic light positioning to enhance safety.

All respondents noted driver behaviour as an issue in Melbourne, with regular speeding and perceived dangerous driving repeatedly named in the survey.

“The survey results suggest that unsafe driving was heightened in congested traffic. These findings are a reminder that investment in road infrastructure is critical to improving safety and that motorists also need to drive safely and to the traffic conditions”, said Mr Williams.

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What are the solutions?

With the RACV’s survey completed, it will approach governments with proposed improvements to road safety, attempting to lower Australia’s stubborn road toll.

Luckily, of the solutions suggested by respondents, many are reasonably cost-effective; zebra crossings, improving traffic lights, and traffic calming infrastructure were called out, rather than wholesale intersection re-designs.

Other solutions include resurfacing potholes, new intersection design, improving lighting and ensuring speed limits are fit for purpose.

As for solving driver behaviour, that’ll be a little more difficult. Poor driver education in Australia has a lot to blame for this, so Williams has a few simple recommendations we can integrate into our daily drives.

“Whether it’s driving at a safe speed, keeping a safe distance or not using a portable device while driving, we can all do our part to make our roads safer”, he said.

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UPDATE: Feedback from more real Melburnians

Commenters were joined by our very own publishing director, Mike Stevens and Wheels magazine editor Andy Enright with a few things to say about the state of Melbourne's roadways – and the omission of several sketchy intersections from the RACV survey's findings.

We can add to our list; the intersection between Yarra Rd and the Maroondah Hwy in Croydon, the Lorimer St/Docklands Hwy/Montague St/Mondash Fwy melange in peak hour, as well as the Western Freeway to Ballarat.

Whichcar contacted VicRoads for its take on atrocious the state of Melbourne's roads, to which a Department of Transport and Planning spokesperson replied:

“We continually monitor our state’s transport network for potential improvements to ensure all road users can get where they need to go safely.

“Road safety is a broad and complex issue that requires a strategic, multi-faceted and coordinated approach and we welcome community feedback as part of that mix”, they said.

“We’re continuing to build safer roads across the state and investigating safer technologies at intersections, making sure speed limits are appropriate and developing community education strategies to increase understanding of road safety but driving down road trauma takes all of us doing the right thing every time we take to the road", added the spokesperson.