Wait for sign to slow down

– Danielle Galvin
KOOWEERUP residents have won their long-running campaign to take on speeding motorists.
Sybella Avenue residents have been pushing for a sign to tell drivers coming off the South Gippsland Highway to slow down.
Now VicRoads has told Kooweerup police that the speed zones in the avenue would be changed in November.
“I think what happens is that people see this long stretch of road after being stuck in town and speed down it,” Sybella Avenue resident Geoff Stokes said.
Sybella Avenue changes from 100 kilometres per hour to 80km/h before dropping to 60km/h.
Lead-footed speedsters in the avenue have been a source of frustration for residents for months.
Kooweerup police Sergeant Kevin Isles said Sybella Avenue residents were unhappy with the number of speeding motorists.
“I know residents have concerns about speeding but I think it’s because of the proximity to the road.
“We know about it and we police it but it’s an awkward area,” he said.
As the secretary of the Kooweerup Township Committee, Mr Stokes wrote to VicRoads in July to request a new ’60km/h ahead’ sign to warn motorists about that the change in speed limit.
Later that month VicRoads sent an email to Sgt Isles telling him that a new sign had been approved and would be erected in November.
“They said that they would remove the 80km/h buffer zone and replace it with an advisory sign,” he said.
But Sgt Isles said that it was too early to tell if the changes would calm the frustration of Sybella Avenue residents.
He said that it was difficult to predict if the advisory sign would reduce speeding motorists.
“It’s hard to say. I guess we’ll see after the sign goes up,” he said.