Fatima Halloum
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The Hoppers Crossing Fire Brigade is pleading with motorists to stop performing illegal U-turns on Derrimut Road outside the station, warning that the action is putting people and property “at risk“.
A right-hand turning lane was placed on Derrimut Road to make it easier for emergency services to get in and out as quickly as possible when responding to time sensitive call-outs.
However, Hoppers Crossing Fire Brigade lieutenant Brenton Lawrence said motorists are using the lane to make U-turns, despite signage near the traffic lights warning them that the action is illegal.
“A lot more people are now using that as a U-turn instead of just the right turn, and because it’s only meant for emergency vehicles, it’s a very short-time turning arrow,“ Mr Lawrence said.
“In the case of an emergency, when the members have to turn into the fire station, you’ve got two people in front of them doing U-turns, they don’t make that light.
“We then have to sit there and wait for the next rotation of light, which potentially could be between two to five minutes,“ he said.
Mr Lawrence said the brigade is wanting to get the message out, as the delay is affecting the firefighters ability to respond in a timely manner.
“We’ve got a response time of four and a half minutes … most of our members live between that two to five minute mark away from the station, so if we have to sit at the light for a minute and a half to two minutes, that’s already pushing us over our allocated response time,“ he said.
“When you think about a major going fire, if we’re even delayed by two to three minutes, that’s a lot of time for a fire to be spreading throughout a house.
“It does put people at risk and property at risk by having people using that lane.“
