General News
4 May, 2023
“Going to cause an accident”
BUSINESSES on Camperdown’s Manifold Street are asking residents to take extra care on the Princes Highway portion of the main street, with U-turns posing a risk to pedestrians
BUSINESSES on Camperdown’s Manifold Street are asking residents to take extra care on the Princes Highway portion of the main street, with U-turns posing a risk to pedestrians
The highway, which has double lines on the island, is used by trucks, cars and bicycles every day.
Some business owners reported hearing trucks blasting their horns and their brakes screeching to avoid collisions.
Common sites for U-turns include in front of Camperdown Newsagency and near the Commercial Hotel and occur when parking or as part of general travel.
Camperdown Newsagent Noela McCann said she was worried about the safety of elderly residents and other road users.
“You would see it at least once a day,” she said.
Little Pharmacy and Shoe Shop owner Sarah Venn said she was often busy inside, but sometimes sees it when she eats her lunch outside.
“You have to be very careful of cars coming both ways, cars coming out of a carpark, and then people crossing the road too,” she said.
“I just don’t know what we can do about it to get it fixed.
“I’ve seen people in the community approach people who have done it when they’ve parked their car as well.”
Benallack’s Sports owner Andrew Benallack said, while he was too busy working to directly see U-turns happening, he estimates an average of one or two a week.
“It’s extremely difficult to put a number on that because some weeks you don’t see it, and then other weeks you might see 20.
“Generally, the busy times for illegal turns are the holidays when you get lots of people from metropolitan Victoria or metropolitan Australia travelling in country towns.
“They’re the ones that generally do it.”
Mr Benallack said he was not too concerned when the street was busy because “people have done U-turns in Manifold Street for a thousand years” but feels people should know they’re breaking the law.
“I think anyone that lives locally will see it periodically,” he said.
“Unless there’s an incident caused, most people don’t worry about it.
“It’s not permitted, but we can’t enforce it.”
Jenna Bateman, owner of The Milk Bar, believes there was an average of around 10-15 illegal U-turns a week.
“It’s very dangerous and people don’t understand that you can’t do that,” she said.
“It’s going to cause an accident with the trucks flying down there.
“It’s not good.
“If someone’s standing here and looking out and they see it, they usually say ‘what idiots’.”
Healthsave Pharmacy owner Sarah Baker said she has seen U-turns three times in the last few months.
“It’s quite dangerous in the main street if someone does a U-turn, and it’s illegal,” she said.
Betta Electrical’s Dean Brown said people should not be doing U-turns on Manifold Street.
“They wouldn’t want a big truck coming their way, would they? Bang,” he said.
“All the cops would have to is park over in the service lane, and they’d have a ball.”