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General News

7 July, 2022

Residents continue calls for improved safety at intersection one year on from serious crash

One year after sustaining “life changing” injuries in a collision at the intersection of Napier and Nolan streets, local Bronwen Haywood is left frustrated by the lack of safety improvements at the notorious crossroads. On July 7 last year, Ms...

By Riley Upton

Local resident Bronwen Haywood is frustrated by the lack of action to improve safety at the Napier and Nolan streets intersection, one year on from a collision there which changed her life.
Local resident Bronwen Haywood is frustrated by the lack of action to improve safety at the Napier and Nolan streets intersection, one year on from a collision there which changed her life.

One year after sustaining “life changing” injuries in a collision at the intersection of Napier and Nolan streets, local Bronwen Haywood is left frustrated by the lack of safety improvements at the notorious crossroads.

On July 7 last year, Ms Haywood was riding her bike like any other day when she was struck by a vehicle at the Napier and Nolan streets intersection after the driver failed to give way.

Ms Haywood said she had time to think ‘this is going to hurt’ before she was hit by the vehicle, which eventually came to a stop with its front driver’s side wheel on her ankle.

Ms Haywood was airlifted to The Alfred Hospital and scans revealed she’d sustained fractures to bones near her left ankle, in her left heel, pelvis and L3 vertebrae.

“I remember seeing this car moments before it hit me but I don’t actually remember the impact, the next thing I remember is realising that my left foot was stuck under the front wheel after it had been dragged by the car,” Ms Haywood said.

“At that stage I didn’t think I was too badly off but when I got into the back of the ambulance and the paramedics had trouble stemming the bleeding from my ankle and said I was going to Melbourne then I knew I was in trouble.”

Ms Haywood was in theatre three times in the one week for orthopaedic and plastic surgeries, and was eventually discharged from hospital in September that year.

An avid cyclist along with her husband Peter, Ms Haywood has been unable to get back on the bike since the accident, forced to use the exercise bike at home if she wants to exercise as a result of her injuries.

She said she is still waiting for elective plastic surgery to debulk the skin flap on her ankle, the result of a graft from her right thigh.

“I’m still having to wear thongs because they’re the only shoes that fit me,” she said.

“Because of the damage to my pelvis, I’m in pain when I sit for more than half an hour and walking is still a problem.

“I need to have further plastic surgery on my heel and because the heel bones were damaged, I still have pain there and may need further surgery as well.

“I haven’t been back on a road bike since the accident.”

The intersection where Ms Haywood was hit has become notorious over the years for having a high number of collisions, with Ms Haywood’s accident back in July last year the second there in the same week.

Similar collisions have occurred as recently as May and March this year which has left Ms Haywood shaking her head, frustrated by the lack of action.

“It is frustrating, nothing has been done in 12 months other than a couple of extra stop signs,” she said.

“I have witnessed other accidents at this intersection and many close calls at the intersection since my accident.

“I have written to all the Central Goldfields Shire councillors and local MPs as well as the Minister for Roads and Road Safety about this.

“I would like to see signs on all approaches to the intersection that remind drivers and road users this is a high accident intersection.

“There also needs to be something done about the entrance to the Metro Petrol Station, it needs to be a one-way entry only.”

The Central Goldfields Shire Council engaged consultants to review the intersection due to safety concerns, with the draft report passed on to the Department of Transport as the responsible road authority, as the intersection forms part of the Pyrenees Highway.

In May this year, the Department confirmed it was working to improve safety at the intersection, which sees over 5000 vehicles travel through daily, installing additional stop signs on the Nolan Street approaches.

The Department also confirmed it is continuing to work with council on how safety at the intersection can be further improved.

Former councillor and mayor Barry Rinaldi witnessed the collision that changed Ms Haywood’s life and was one of the first on scene.

“I remember Bronwen’s situation as if it was yesterday, I was working out at the gym and the next thing I saw was Bronwen being struck by this car,” he said.

“The way she was thrown, almost like a somersault, was unreal — how she survived that incident is beyond me.”

Mr Rinaldi served 19 years on the local council and said the intersection has always been a problem, but is now getting worse.

“The intersection itself is seeing increasing usage due to the new petrol station and as much as we would all like to see new businesses coming in and flourishing, I think that’s created some additional difficulties in terms of that intersection,” he said.

“I go to the gym on that corner for two hours each week and I would see a very close accident every time I’m there.

“I think the only way to fix it is the most expensive way and that means putting traffic lights in.

“Stop signs aren’t seen, moving the parking from both Napier and Nolan streets near the intersection may not necessarily overcome the problem, reducing the speed to a 40km/h zone could help, but I think traffic lights are the only way to address this.”

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