Christmas is supposed to be a time of goodwill to all, but I doubt there would have been much of that going on in the hundreds of cars crawling out of the mansion last Saturday night after the annual Carols by Candlelight.
Such events bring thousands of visitors to the area. You would hope they might come back to visit the zoo or lunch at Shadowfax Winery or have a barbecue lunch at the State Rose Garden. It is important that each visit is a good experience and memorable.
I did not attend the carols but was caught in the gridlock after leaving the golf club.
K Road was a car park. I have written about K Road before on several occasions; nothing has changed in years. As the gateway to the Werribee Park precinct, it has a lot in common with the West Gate Freeway.
The organisers of the carols need a rocket. I did not see what staff they had inside the grounds, but two blokes with lollipop signs on K Road was not good enough. Only one of the two exits was manned and – to be blunt – neither of the two workers seemed terribly interested in balancing the traffic flow.
Once clear of K Road, it was a very smooth run to the highway, but the 25 minutes spent travelling a few kilometres would not have been the finale to the evening most would have been seeking. Surely a crowd of that magnitude deserved similar manpower on duty for the end of the night as at the beginning?
This reminds me of the old footy days at VFL Park in Glen Waverley when the blue coats used to disappear the minute the final siren sounded. I have never understood that, as people arrive at different times to an event but most leave at the same time.
I saw plenty of cars with kids who would have been keen to get home to bed rather than being stuck in traffic. I am sure the parents felt the same.
It is a problem that is very easily fixed. I am sure it would not eat into the profits too much to have a few more traffic controllers working on the night. That would certainly show some goodwill to all men.
