Georgia Tacey
Hume council has proposed introducing wildlife roadstrike triggers for speed limit reviews.
In its submission to the Wildlife Roadstrike Enquiry, council wants the Department of Transport’s Speed Zoning Policy updated to include wildlife roadstrike thresholds that trigger variable or seasonal speed limit adjustments in high-risk areas, based on wildlife roadstrike data.
This would mean high risk areas, like Sunbury Road, Mickleham Road, Somerton Road and Lancefield Road, would have reduced speeds based on the amount of wildlife roadstrikes in the area.
In 2024, there were more than 1150 kangaroos involved in vehicle collisions in the municipality, the highest amount in a five-year period.
Sunbury recorded the most strikes, with 203 reported incidents, followed by 161 incidents in Mickleham and 145 in Greenvale.
“The environment is really dry out there and it’s bringing wildlife closer to where people are and unfortunately, they’re being hit and left,” Cr Kate Hamley said at the May 26 council meeting.
The submission said with rapid development around conservation reserves, parklands and rural land, kangaroos are increasingly confined to shrinking patches of habitat that are bordered by roads, fences and residential areas.
It also stated that new road projects are not taking into account wildlife movement corridors.
Cr Naim Kurt said residents have had to take the situation into their own hands to get people to watch out for wildlife on the roads.
“If you drive up Mickleham Road at the moment … community members have started putting up their own kangaroo signs to get people to drive slowly,” he said.
“It’s not good enough when we’ve got issues like this where our community is having to warn other community members to look out for kangaroos because there’s a void where the government isn’t stepping in and taking on that leadership role.”
Some of the issues outlined in the submission include that the rapid urbanisation in Mickleham, Craigieburn, Kalkallo, Greenvale and Sunbury is resulting in development extending deeper into previously rural and ecologically sensitive areas.
New housing developments are also being built near historic habitat areas and conservation reserves, the submission said.
The submission said one of the most significant barriers to the issue is the lack of clear, legislated and co-ordinated accountability among land and road managers.
Council has made nine recommendations in its submission, including establishing a centralised wildlife population and roadstrike database, and for the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action to deliver on the actions stated in the Living with Wildlife Action Plan that was published in 2018.
