An announcement by Roads Minister Luke Donnellan indicating wire rope safety barriers were “here to stay” on Victoria’s country roads has sparked discussion among Standard readers.
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A poll set up by The Standard asking readers if they thought wire rope safety barriers saved lives on the road showed close to 48 per cent thought they did, 41 per cent per cent disagreed and 11 per cent were unsure.
A total of 247 people had participated in the poll at the time of publication.
Mr Donnellan responded to safety-based criticisms of the barriers by referring to opponents as “dingbats” and saying there was no evidence the wire rope barriers did anything but save lives.
Darrin Jay, who identified himself as a a motorcylist, commented on the Standard Facebook page saying he was forced to pay a safety levy on top of registration to go towards making roads safer for motorcyclists.
“This goes directly against that agenda,” he said.
John Evans asked where drivers were supposed to pull over to change a flat tyre “caused by the potholes (the government) have neglected to fix”.
Gayle Harmsworth agreed, saying fixing the road itself would be a better option.
“Maybe the people running off the road are dodging the potholes that wreck tyres and damage front ends,” she said.
Jenny Parry had a more positive view of the barriers.
“I think they’re a wonderful idea and if they save lives that’s even better,” she said.
What do you think? Have your say
