Dangerous road conditions put children at risk, parents say

MICHELLE Hosemann believes it is only a matter of time until a student is hit and killed by a car on an unsealed stretch of road near her daughters’ school in Mount Duneed.

She has been fighting for years to have a 400m section of Williams Road, just north of Mount Duneed Regional Primary School, sealed.

This stretch is the only unsealed section of Williams Road between Mt Duneed Road and the southern edge of houses in the Armstrong Creek growth area.

Hosemann said the road had posed safety issues for at least eight years, with no safe space for children to walk or ride bikes.

“When the kids are walking down there, they’re getting dust in their eyes. They’re getting dust in their lungs. They’re getting stones flicked up, so they’re getting injured,” she said.

 

“Kids are falling off their bikes. They’re hurting themselves.”

Fellow parent and nearby resident Dave McKiernan said the City of Greater Geelong re-sheeted the unsealed stretch every three to four months, but the ruts at their worst were dangerous.

“If you’re going any faster than 30km/h, your car’s vibrating that bad, you basically have to slow down,” McKiernan said. “If you go any faster, it’s almost like aquaplaning because you’re sitting on top of the ruts.

“When you first come over because there is a bit of a peak, you can’t actually see the kids [on a bike] until you’re on there.

“And then with the dust, sometimes you can’t even see them.”

Hosemann is calling for several measures to fix the problem, including a speed limit review, enforcement of heavy vehicle restrictions, dust suppression measures and a timeline for sealing the road.

 

She has written to the city, Transport Victoria, the Department of Education, the Environmental Protection Authority and the office of Corangamite federal member Libby Coker, and has also started a petition.

The city has allocated $150,000 in its 2025-26 budget to investigate a dirt footpath along the nearby Feehans Road, but Hosemann said recent correspondence from the city indicated there would be no budget consideration for sealing Williams Road within the next four years.

“It’s not a matter of if a child’s going to get seriously injured or if a child’s going die – it’s a matter of when,” Hosemann said.

“And they’re not going to do anything, I don’t think, until something drastic happens, and then they’re forced to do something.”

The city says delivering the infrastructure to support the requested measures would cost more than $3 million.

Executive director of city infrastructure James Stirton said the city had been working with the school community and investigating actions to address the ongoing issues on Williams Road.

 

“We’ve regularly communicated to families and the school that unfortunately, finding a solution is complicated and sealing alone will not result in safer or improved pedestrian access,” he said.

“Factors such as required stormwater drainage and protected native vegetation could affect the width of a sealed road and footpaths in this location.

“We continue to explore all options, including the possibility of an interim solution which we are discussing with the owner of Purdies Paddock.”

Right: Dust on the unsealed section of road is causing visibility issues. Photo: Michelle Hosemann.