Monash M1 Debacle - Dad Copped Unpatched Road

Greetings All,

Bit late to the party on this as I have not had the time to post about it.

Some of you may have experienced the incident on the Monash when they were repairing the patch of the road all day after “accidentally reopening the road too early” when they claimed they patched the road the night before. My dad actually had a dash cam footage of this and we think they’re lying about it as you can clearly see no laid asphalt and it’s all just gravel and dirt. It’s as if they just packed up shop and didn’t attempt to repair any road at all.

My dad spoke to Neil Mitchell that morning and you can hear the aftermath about it here: https://www.3aw.com.au/significant-construction-stuff-up-was…

My dad was unlucky enough to have been driving on the Monash at about 6am in the morning where he hit no more asphalt road at 80km/he and there was just gravel or dirt in his low profile tyre Mercedes which caused a lot of cosmetic damage and scratches to the underneath of the car and pipings etc.

Seeking advice on whether we should contact anyone for this negligence as a serious accident could have happened here.

Dad reached out to vic roads which couldn’t care less about it, anyone else he should contact and supply the footage too?

Edit:
Not seeking sympathy or compensation, now that’s out of the way, just want to make sure that something like this never happens again as it is quite dangerous what had occurred due to sheer negligence, and could have lead to a fatality to someone that did not know how to control a car in that situation. Who can we contact or report this to so that this matter gets dealt properly at hand.

Many thanks

Comments

  • +5

    Right at the end of the article…

    Mr Garner says anyone whose car was damaged by the roadworks is entitled to compensation from CPB, the contractor who was working on the road.

    • How else can they be held accountable for this? Thanks we are already aware for how to seek compensation.

      • -6

        shit happens.. deal with it and move on. What are you expecting? a brand new car?

        • +2

          ‘Repercussions’
          You ever heard of that ?

          Maybe the contractor deserves to lose his cushy government contract or atleast a warning for whats to come the next time anything like this were to happen.

  • +3

    where he hit no more asphalt road at 80km/h

    Sounds like a typical regional road out my way except it's normally a 100 zone.

    Only tourists have the Euros with low profile tyres. I know they are tourists because they then brake hard when they panic on the gravel. I've seen ESC save their backsides plenty of times. Glad your dad is ok.

    • Thank you for your concern, he relies on his car for his business so we’re greatful nothing mechanically was damaged with it.

  • +2

    …his low profile tyre Mercedes which caused a lot of cosmetic damage and scratches to the underneath of the car and pipings etc.

    You'd probably get more sympathy from people here if you wrote "low profile Camry…" or "low profile Corolla…." lol

    The Monash is a seriously sh.t piece of road. A multi-lane road that wide and most it has been set to a speed limit of 80km/h and it's just constant construction. I don't remember when the last time there was no construction work on that road. And they still charge an arm and a leg to use it!

    • Lol yeah I know, I do sound like a twat wording it like that without more context
      Just sick of the Monash constantly being worked on and closed and speed limits reduced and now this has happened to my dad, would not want this to happen to anybody else as some serious damages could have occurred

    • The Western ring road is the same, in the past 10 years i hardly seen it being 100km/h from Altona to Bundoora all the way.

    • +1

      Had this conversation with my wife the other day as we drove at night from Glen Iris to Pakenham. We'd get brief stints of 100 or 80 otherwise it was hovering between 40 and 60. Realised that for that journey there would not have been a clean run 100km/h all the way for at least 5 years. Ridiculous.

      • …otherwise it was hovering between 40 and 60.

        I hate this. Especially in the evenings when I'm thinking "I'll pay the toll to use the highway to get home quicker and easier". And then get hit with roadworks over and over again! 🤯

        • +1

          Especially when they set the limit stupidly low at 40, which no one is paying attention to anyway. Almost every person was doing at least 50-60.

      • Glen Iris to Pakenham

        51km at those speeds. Would have been fun.

    • The Monash is a seriously sh.t piece of road. A multi-lane road that wide and most it has been set to a speed limit of 80km/h and it's just constant construction. I don't remember when the last time there was no construction work on that road. And they still charge an arm and a leg to use it!

      There's unfortunately just no solution for the Monash. It's servicing an increasing population towards Pakenham and carries far more traffic than it was ever designed for. It doesn't help that the only alternative for most of that route is the Princes Hwy, which increasingly feels like an undriveable stroad with way too many traffic lights and mix use for that sort of road.

      One (short term) solution would have been the construction of the east-west tunnel linking the end of the Eastern Fwy to the west, then you would have had an alternative (slightly further, but still viable) path from the far south-east to the west via Eastlink and the Eastern Fwy eliminating the chug-point at the Hoddle St / Alexandra Pde side and reducing a whole bunch of traffic rat-running around Collingwood / Carlton / Fitzroy.

      In the long run, the only real solution is to replace cars with public transport. that are much more efficient at moving large amounts of people. Trains are already faster than cars along the Monash along the Pakenham line, but from what I know, station access is just abysmal to the point where people living past Dandenong are choosing to drive instead of catching the train.

      Obviously the solution is complex, but it's unfair to say that the Monash is a shitty piece of road. We've just not given it the support that it's needed as population has skyrocketed since it was constructed back 40 years ago.

      • Less trucks too, they ruin the road here in Tas. Move to freight trains

      • Monash is like funnel that catches all. It is only going to get worse. Regardless.

      • It's servicing an increasing population towards Pakenham and carries far more traffic than it was ever designed for.

        That seems to happen to every road that's ever built. Some forward planning would definitely help! Instead, they try to build a road to the bare minimum each time and then have to widen it not long after it's complete at extraordinary costs to the taxpayer. It would be much much cheaper to build it properly the first time!

        • Someone has to keep those campaign contributing developers and unions in diamonds and furs.

  • -2

    Mate, you and your dad probably never driven an hour pass Melbourne. There're plenty of single lane asphalt roads out of town with 100km/h limit where your passenger side will be on gravel when passing cars from opposite direction. His only crime is riding his shining ride through a roadwork.
    and stop overeating about people dying on unsafe road, plenty of country roads are worse than that.

  • +1

    Given how hard the contractor would have been hit for their part in the mess by VicRoads/Major Road projects, pretty sure something like this won't be happening again in a hurry. The fact that it happened at all is a pretty rare event, likely to have been caused by a variety of smaller things, some of these probably outside their control.

  • Think about getting some mud guards in the future, they aren't the most attractive but they do work well in stopping lose stones from peppering your side skirts and bodywork if you have wheels close to the guards.

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