A NOTORIOUS section of Korumburra-Wonthaggi Road has once again proven hazardous, with yet another accident adding to its troubling history. On Sunday, March 2, a woman veered off the road and crashed into a tree between Jumbunna and Kongwak – an area well known for previous collisions.
Jenny Taylor, a local resident, was among the first to respond.
“We came out shortly after the crash. The driver had gone into a tree, and the windscreen was caved in, but we couldn’t understand the woman’s speech,” she said.
Despite having lived in the area for only five years, Jenny and her partner, Vic Nanut, have witnessed multiple accidents along this stretch of road. “I’ve personally called emergency services on four separate occasions, and my partner has also had to call,” she said.
“We hear the bang, go out, and start looking for the car.”
The most recent crash follows another incident in October 2024, when a vehicle similarly left the road and struck a tree. Ms Taylor said it was incredibly fortunate that no lives had been lost given the frequency of accidents in the area.
Residents may recall a particularly severe crash in August 2012, involving a 30-year-old man from Sunshine on the same stretch of road. He was trapped in the cabin of his truck for more than seven hours before emergency crews could free him. Due to the severity of the situation, doctors from The Alfred Hospital were flown in to amputate his left foot at the scene.
Emergency responders described the extraction as one of the most challenging they had faced. Unlike the recent crashes, the 2012 accident occurred on the opposite side of the road, where a steep 10 to 20-metre embankment complicated rescue efforts with most of the work being done overhead on a wet and uneven surface. The operation required assistance from multiple CFA and SES units.
Yellow arrow signs have since been installed to indicate the sharpness of the turn.
Taylor and Nanut acknowledged that these measures initially seemed effective, with accidents decreasing for a time. However, the recent resurgence of crashes has raised concerns among residents, who are calling for further safety improvements.
“Definitely some better signage would be good, and maybe the road surface needs to be looked at,” Ms Taylor said.
“It doesn’t necessarily look dangerous, yet cars keep coming off at the same point.
“They need to examine the road itself. You can’t attribute all these accidents to driver behaviour – it may play a role, but this is too much of a coincidence.”
Member for Gippsland South, Danny O’Brien, echoed these concerns, highlighting broader issues with regional roads.
“This and many other roads in the vicinity are quite narrow, winding and hilly which can be a danger, especially for people not familiar with the road,” Mr O’Brien said.
He also questioned the government’s allocation of funding, arguing that road safety and maintenance in regional areas have been somewhat neglected.
“We need more effort from the government in fixing local roads and less cost over-runs on the mega projects in the city that Labor is obsessed with. Ongoing budget cuts to road maintenance and road safety programs have left our roads in a parlous state.”
With mounting concerns from both residents and local representatives, calls for improved safety measures along the road are growing louder by the day.