THERE are renewed calls for the activation of traffic signals at the corner of Wyndham and McIntosh Streets, Shepparton, following another serious traffic accident on August 5.
RoadSafe Goulburn Valley believes the incident may have been preventable had the fully constructed traffic lights been operational.
The signals were installed as part of a $3.1M road upgrade that began in October 2020, but have never been switched on, almost six years after work commenced and long after the physical infrastructure was completed.
The intersection and dormant traffic signals have been a concern for locals for some time, with the Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) maintaining that activation has been delayed due to the need to coordinate the signals with rail safety works on the Shepparton Line.
RoadSafe GV said the community has repeatedly been told the matter is a complex, multi-agency issue, but argued this should not leave completed safety infrastructure unused for years.
Greater Shepparton City Council, local media and community members have consistently raised concerns about the intersection, while Member for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell has raised the issue in Parliament and pressed successive governments for a firm activation date.
RoadSafe GV committee member Callum Phillips said the latest collision highlighted the need for action.
“Our community has watched these lights sit idle for years, and now we’ve had yet another serious crash at the exact intersection they were built to protect,” he said. “That’s a warning we can’t afford to ignore again.”
Callum said the newly appointed Minister for Roads and Road Safety, Paul Hamer, has an opportunity to demonstrate that regional road safety was a priority.
“As the newly appointed Minister for Roads and Road Safety, Mr Hamer has an early opportunity to demonstrate that regional road safety will be treated as a genuine priority under his portfolio, not another long-running case study in delay,” he said.
RoadSafe Goulburn Valley is calling on DTP to provide a clear, public timeline for activating the traffic signals, urgently review interim safety measures while works are finalised, and provide transparent, regular updates on the status of the rail-signalling coordination works.
“We are not asking for anything new,” Mr Phillips said. “This infrastructure already exists. We are asking for the Department of Transport and Planning and Minister Hamer to finish the job they started in 2020 and give this intersection the protection it was always meant to have.”
