Plans for road signs in Mandarin are being prepared to help Chinese visitors drive safely along the Great Ocean Road (GOR), a VicRoads spokesperson says.
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The Mandarin road signs news was part of an exchange of information between VicRoads and members of the public at a community consultation at Port Campbell on Saturday.
The VicRoads spokesperson said it had heard the community’s calls for road signs in Mandarin to help Chinese tourists “loud and clear” and was working on getting about 20 road directions translated to Mandarin and displayed on electronic signs.
Many of the electronic signs would be displayed near roadworks along the GOR to reduce confusion by Chinese visitors about where they needed to go.
About 11,000 tourists a day, many of them from China, travelled along the GOR during the peak of this year’s Chinese New Year holiday period.
International tourists have been involved in several vehicle accidents along the GOR in recent years, which have occurred after some were driven on the wrong side of the road.
Port Campbell accommodation provider Margaret McKenzie was among the locals at the Port Campbell forum who called for road signs in Mandarin to help Chinese visitors.
She said many of her Chinese guests had told her it had been stressful for them to understand many of the detour signs erected after the GOR was closed for a time after landslides late last year.
Another to provide feedback at the forum was Corangamite Cr Neil Trotter who said a long-term road safety solution on the GOR, including safeguarding it against landslides, was likely to be very expensive and VicRoads should focus on providing alternative routes from the Princes Highway to GOR attractions.
Cr Trotter said many of those who visited the GOR already used the arterial roads to get to the Princes Highway to return to Melbourne and they were deteriorating under the increased traffic volumes.
