Melbourne’s outer suburbs are set to receive a significant safety boost, with rumble strip line marking to be laid on about 400 kilometres of high-speed roads.
Works have started on the $7 million rumble strip program, which will help reduce serious crashes.
The program will target selected high-speed roads across outer metropolitan Melbourne, including the Maroondah Highway, Warburton Highway and Plenty Road.
Rumble strips will be installed on centreline markings to reduce the risk of head-on collisions and on outer lane markings to help prevent run-off road crashes.
The audio tactile rumble strips alert drivers when they are moving out of their lane by making a ‘rumbling’ sound and causing the vehicle to vibrate when driven over.
Around one in three people who are seriously injured or killed on Victorian roads have been involved in a crash caused by vehicles leaving their lane.
Straight stretches of road will be predominantly targeted and the tactile strips will be at least 300 millimetres from the edge of the sealed road to ensure safe journeys for all road users, including cyclists.
To minimise noise impacts, the rumble strips will not be installed closer than 150 metres to residential properties.
The program is part of a $1.4 billion road safety package to reduce road trauma, in partnership with the Department of Transport and the Transport Accident Commission (TAC).
To minimise disruption on busy roads, crews will work through the night to install the rumble strips, however on some roads daytime works may be required. The roll out of the program is expected to be complete by August next year.
