Council

Merri-Bek Road Harm Intelligence Report

Fatal and injury crash patterns, vulnerable road-user harm, heavy-vehicle involvement, SCATS exposure matching and TIRTL freight-conflict matching.

38 fatalities 1,992 serious injuries 2,588 VRU crash records 207 heavy-vehicle crash records
5,754
Crash records
38
Fatalities
1,992
Serious injuries
4,856
Other injuries
28,576
Weighted harm score
83.5
Priority score
Method caveat: This is a public-interest analytical report. It is not an engineering safety audit. Locations should be treated as candidates for further review.

Highest-priority dangerous signalised intersections

This council-level panel ranks signalised intersections using the SCATS exposure-adjusted road-harm screening layer.

Headline signal: Melville / Moreland is the strongest Merri-bek signal-site priority in the SCATS exposure-adjusted screening layer. It ranks #1 locally and #2,441 statewide.
88
SCATS-matched sites
232
Matched crashes
75
Fatal/serious injuries
1,200
Weighted harm score

Top 5 local signal-site priorities

Local rankState rankSCATS siteHarmFSICrashesHarm/m movementsVRUHV
12441Melville / Moreland
SCATS 4000
111230.831
22490Sydney / Bell
SCATS 3054
121340.541
32575Albion nr Gronn
SCATS 3470
14141.400
42945Gaffney / Sussex
SCATS 1983
22240.620
52968Sydney / O'Hea
SCATS 4121
42450.330

Caveat: SCATS movements are an exposure proxy. Crash-to-SCATS matching is proximity-based. This is a public-interest prioritisation tool and not an engineering safety audit.

Safety diagnosis

This section diagnoses the type of road-harm problem in Merri-bek by crash mechanism, road environment, vulnerable-road-user involvement and heavy-vehicle involvement.

28,576
Weighted harm score
2,030
Fatal + serious injuries
34.1%
VRU share of harm
6.1%
Heavy-vehicle share of harm
6.0%
High-speed road harm share
55.1%
Intersection harm share
Plain-English diagnosis: Merri-bek recorded 5,754 injury crash records, 38 fatalities and 1,992 serious injuries in the analysis period. The leading harm mechanism family is Turning / crossing conflict. Dark, dawn or dusk conditions account for 34.8% of weighted harm.

Top harm mechanism families

Mechanism familyCrashesFSIHarmShare
Turning / crossing conflict1,9837299,75034.1%
Pedestrian conflict6212935,02017.6%
Rear-end / same-lane conflict1,0332423,75213.1%
Other / mixed mechanism8582623,60312.6%
Parked-vehicle / roadside conflict4761652,1817.6%
Run-off-road / loss-of-control4411812,1147.4%
Lane-change / sideswipe conflict3281542,1057.4%
Object / roadside impact144510.2%

Top fatal/serious mechanism families

Mechanism familyCrashesFSIHarmShare
Turning / crossing conflict6497298,19434.0%
Pedestrian conflict2912934,65519.3%
Other / mixed mechanism2512622,92512.1%
Rear-end / same-lane conflict2172422,76411.5%
Lane-change / sideswipe conflict1231541,8577.7%
Parked-vehicle / roadside conflict1581651,8447.7%
Run-off-road / loss-of-control1681811,8217.6%
Object / roadside impact44400.2%

Vulnerable road-user mechanism families

Mechanism familyCrashesFSIHarmShare
Pedestrian conflict6212935,02051.5%
Turning / crossing conflict4471311,73917.8%
Other / mixed mechanism3541031,57116.1%
Parked-vehicle / roadside conflict174508178.4%
Run-off-road / loss-of-control76222762.8%
Rear-end / same-lane conflict39141691.7%
Lane-change / sideswipe conflict41111451.5%
Object / roadside impact41130.1%

Heavy-vehicle mechanism families

Mechanism familyCrashesFSIHarmShare
Pedestrian conflict141046426.6%
Turning / crossing conflict412040823.4%
Rear-end / same-lane conflict592539322.5%
Lane-change / sideswipe conflict381518810.8%
Other / mixed mechanism44121568.9%
Parked-vehicle / roadside conflict831257.2%
Object / roadside impact11100.6%
Run-off-road / loss-of-control2020.1%

Speed-zone harm profile

Speed categoryCrashesFSIHarmShare
Urban arterial roads (60–70 km/h)2,50899314,28150.0%
Local streets (50 km/h)1,5955517,47726.2%
Low-speed streets (≤40 km/h)8572763,71113.0%
High-speed roads (80+ km/h)3451181,7036.0%
Unknown speed zone449921,4044.9%

Road-geometry harm profile

Road geometryCrashesFSIHarmShare
Intersection3,1921,11215,74555.1%
Midblock / not at intersection2,54891312,76844.7%
Unknown geometry73370.1%
Other geometry72260.1%

Lighting harm profile

LightingCrashesFSIHarmShare
Daylight3,7081,31018,09663.3%
Dark / street lights1,3195537,86927.5%
Dawn / dusk4881372,0887.3%
Other lighting239305231.8%

Top detailed crash descriptions

Detailed crash descriptionCrashesFSIHarmShare
REAR END(VEHICLES IN SAME LANE)1,0222383,70513.0%
RIGHT THROUGH5822353,00510.5%
CROSS TRAFFIC(INTERSECTIONS ONLY)5301882,4568.6%
PED NEAR SIDE. PED HIT BY VEHICLE FROM THE RIGHT.3061552,4398.5%
FAR SIDE. PED HIT BY VEHICLE FROM THE LEFT172851,5865.6%
VEHICLE COLLIDES WITH VEHICLE PARKED ON LEFT OF ROAD230941,1834.1%
HEAD ON (NOT OVERTAKING)141901,1283.9%
LEFT OFF CARRIAGEWAY INTO OBJECT/PARKED VEHICLE181991,1123.9%

Caveat: This is a public-interest diagnostic layer. It identifies patterns for review and does not assign legal fault, engineering causation or treatment responsibility.

Emerging hotspots and worsening trends

This section compares recent road harm against the long-run baseline to identify patterns that may be getting worse.

Plain-English signal: Merri-bek has localised worsening signals even if the whole-council signal is below the statewide top threshold.

Top local worsening locations

LocationClassBaseline harm/yrRecent harm/yrChange/yrRecent FSI
BELL STREET / DAVIS STREETEmerging from low baseline1.539.738.26
SYDNEY ROAD / DISNEY STREETStrong worsening3.836.032.34
MELVILLE ROAD / BREARLEY PARADEStrong worsening6.031.625.63
MOASCAR STREET / PRINCES TERRACEEmerging from low baseline0.026.626.61
MELVILLE ROAD / HOPE STREETStrong worsening8.632.423.73
SYDNEY ROAD / BOUNDARY ROADStrong worsening5.623.818.18
BELL STREET / ELM GROVEStrong worsening9.433.424.03
MORELAND ROAD / GLENCAIRN AVENUEStrong worsening2.926.423.51

Worsening mechanism families

MechanismClassBaseline harm/yrRecent harm/yrChange/yr
Other / mixed mechanismStrong worsening417.8462.644.9

Comparison period

Baseline: 2012-2019
Recent: 2022-2025

Metrics are annualised. This is a statistical screening layer, not an engineering safety audit.

Vulnerable Road User Atlas

This section focuses on pedestrian, bicyclist, motorcyclist, school-age pedestrian/cyclist and older-pedestrian harm patterns where fields are available.

Plain-English VRU signature: Merri-bek recorded 1,756 vulnerable-road-user crash records, 25 fatalities and 600 serious injuries. VRU crashes account for 30.5% of all recorded injury crashes and 34.1% of weighted harm. The largest VRU count group is bicyclists. School-age pedestrian/cyclist flags appear in 164 records. Older-pedestrian flags appear in 198 records.

VRU type breakdown

VRU typeHarmFSICrashes
Pedestrian6,096355751
Bicyclist3,7122741,020
Older pedestrian2,635139198
School-age pedestrian/cyclist55642164
Motorcyclist000

VRU mechanism families

MechanismHarmFSICrashes
Turning / crossing conflict4,178286753
Other / mixed mechanism3,691216616
Parked-vehicle / roadside conflict1,27875227
Run-off-road / loss-of-control2762276
Rear-end / same-lane conflict1691439
Lane-change / sideswipe conflict1451141

Top local VRU locations

LocationHarmFSICrashesPedBikeMoto
SYDNEY ROAD / BARKLY STREET
Open map
28317388310
SYDNEY ROAD / BAKERS ROAD
Open map
2567111100
HOLMES STREET -NICHOLSON STREET / MORELAND ROAD
Open map
20729720
BELL STREET / ROSS STREET
Open map
20123300
BELL STREET / SYDNEY ROAD
Open map
1596141310
MELVILLE ROAD / HOPE STREET
Open map
158612930
SYDNEY ROAD / VICTORIA STREET
Open map
149133012180
SYDNEY ROAD / GAFFNEY STREET
Open map
137411740

Freight Conflict Index

This section focuses on heavy-vehicle crash harm, vulnerable-road-user overlap and TIRTL freight exposure where available.

Plain-English freight signature: Merri-bek recorded 207 heavy-vehicle-involved crash records, 8 fatalities and 78 serious injuries. Heavy-vehicle crashes account for 6.1% of total weighted harm. There are 40 heavy-vehicle crashes overlapping with pedestrians, bicyclists or motorcyclists. TIRTL-matched freight-corridor harm score is 26 across 7 matched heavy-vehicle crash records.

TIRTL freight-conflict sites

TIRTL siteScoreHarmHV crashesHarm / m trucks
M80 - WRR East of Mahoneys Rd AB
Open map
48.610182.2
Tullamarine FWY Outbound - Before M80 Overpass (NB)
Open map
47.510171.9
M80 - WRR East of Kathryn St AB
Open map
26.9546.8
Tullamarine FWY Inbound - After WRR Interchange (SB)
Open map
24.6118.3

HV mechanism families

MechanismHarmFSIHV crashesHV+VRU
Turning / crossing conflict740264914
Rear-end / same-lane conflict39325591
Parked-vehicle / roadside conflict225492
Other / mixed mechanism188154918
Lane-change / sideswipe conflict18815382
Object / roadside impact10111

Top heavy-vehicle crash locations

LocationHarmFSIHV crashesHV+VRU
HOLMES STREET -NICHOLSON STREET / MORELAND ROAD
Open map
201233
BELL STREET / ROSS STREET
Open map
200222
WESTERN RING ROAD / WIDFORD STREET
Open map
158691
SYDNEY ROAD / BARKLY STREET
Open map
102133
MELVILLE ROAD / BREARLEY PARADE
Open map
101121
PASCOE VALE ROAD / FINCHLEY AVENUE
Open map
100110

Freight / vulnerable-road-user overlap locations

LocationHarmFSIHV crashesPedBikeMoto
HOLMES STREET -NICHOLSON STREET / MORELAND ROAD
Open map
20123300
BELL STREET / ROSS STREET
Open map
20022200
WESTERN RING ROAD / WIDFORD STREET
Open map
15869001
SYDNEY ROAD / BARKLY STREET
Open map
10213021
MELVILLE ROAD / BREARLEY PARADE
Open map
10112010
WESTERN RING ROAD / HUME-WESTERN RING IN ON RAMP
Open map
2425001

SCATS exposure-adjusted intersection league table

This section ranks signalised intersections by total road harm and by harm adjusted for observed SCATS movements.

Plain-English SCATS signal: Merri-bek has 88 SCATS sites with matched crash records, 232 matched crash records and 75 fatal/serious injuries. The highest-priority local SCATS site is Melville / Moreland, with a priority score of 39.3.

Top local SCATS sites by combined priority

SCATS sitePriorityHarmFSIHarm / m movementsConfidence
Melville / Moreland
SCATS 4000
Open map
39.3111.020.8Watch
Sydney / Bell
SCATS 3054
Open map
38.1121.030.5Watch
Albion nr Gronn
SCATS 3470
Open map
36.114.011.4Watch
Gaffney / Sussex
SCATS 1983
Open map
26.522.020.6Watch
Sydney / O'Hea
SCATS 4121
Open map
26.042.040.3Medium
Sydney / Weston
SCATS 4022
Open map
25.834.030.3Medium
PASCOE VALE near ANSELM
SCATS 3588
Open map
24.344.040.3Medium
Bell / Melville / Turner
SCATS 3052
Open map
21.132.030.1Watch

Top eligible local SCATS sites by harm rate

SCATS siteHarm / m movementsHarmFSICrashesMovements
Albion nr Gronn
SCATS 3470
Open map
1.414.01410,095,255
Melville / Moreland
SCATS 4000
Open map
0.8111.023147,070,358
Gaffney / Sussex
SCATS 1983
Open map
0.622.02437,399,862
Sydney / Bell
SCATS 3054
Open map
0.5121.034252,271,089
Sydney / Weston
SCATS 4022
Open map
0.334.037108,768,210
Moreland / Cameron
SCATS 3887
Open map
0.323.02473,683,495
PASCOE VALE near ANSELM
SCATS 3588
Open map
0.344.046149,855,778
Sydney / O'Hea
SCATS 4121
Open map
0.342.045146,865,203

Merri-bek crash map

Interactive self-contained Google Map showing crash records, fatal crashes, serious-injury crashes, vulnerable road-user crashes and heavy-vehicle crashes for this council area.

Map caveat: this is public-interest road-harm intelligence, not an engineering safety audit.

Open Merri-bek crash map in a full page

Merri-bek road-harm graphs

Large-format colour-coded graph pack showing this council's severity trend, harm composition, road-user involvement, top locations and exposure layers.

Annual severity trend

Crash records by year, stacked by fatal, serious injury and other injury severity.

Open full-size graph
Annual severity trend

Harm composition

Fatalities, serious injuries and other injuries in the official crash data.

Open full-size graph
Harm composition

Road-user involvement

Pedestrian, bicycle, motorcycle and heavy-vehicle crash involvement.

Open full-size graph
Road-user involvement

Statewide priority comparison

Combined priority score and statewide rank compared with other councils.

Open full-size graph
Statewide priority comparison

SCATS signal-site exposure layer

Top SCATS-matched sites by weighted harm where signal-site exposure data is available.

Open full-size graph
SCATS signal-site exposure layer

TIRTL freight-conflict layer

Top TIRTL-matched freight-conflict sites by weighted harm where freight data is available.

Open full-size graph
TIRTL freight-conflict layer

Graph caveat: these are public-interest road-harm intelligence charts, not an engineering safety audit.

Merri-bek Street View quick links

Click a link to inspect the road environment in a new browser tab.

Top crash locations — Street View

LocationSummaryStreet ViewGoogle Maps
WESTERN RING ROAD / WIDFORD STREET28 crashes; 2 fatal; 14 serious; harm 369Street ViewGoogle Maps
SYDNEY ROAD / BAKERS ROAD41 crashes; 2 fatal; 13 serious; harm 366Street ViewGoogle Maps
SYDNEY ROAD / BARKLY STREET45 crashes; 1 fatal; 18 serious; harm 309Street ViewGoogle Maps
PASCOE VALE ROAD / FINCHLEY AVENUE13 crashes; 2 fatal; 7 serious; harm 278Street ViewGoogle Maps
HOLMES STREET -NICHOLSON STREET / MORELAND ROAD22 crashes; 2 fatal; 5 serious; harm 269Street ViewGoogle Maps
SYDNEY ROAD / GAFFNEY STREET36 crashes; 1 fatal; 13 serious; harm 264Street ViewGoogle Maps
BELL STREET / SYDNEY ROAD49 crashes; 1 fatal; 11 serious; harm 252Street ViewGoogle Maps
WESTERN RING ROAD / WESTERN RING IN-TULLAMARINE OUT RAMP41 crashes; 0 fatal; 20 serious; harm 240Street ViewGoogle Maps
SYDNEY ROAD / LORNE STREET24 crashes; 1 fatal; 11 serious; harm 231Street ViewGoogle Maps
MELVILLE ROAD / HOPE STREET25 crashes; 1 fatal; 11 serious; harm 229Street ViewGoogle Maps
BELL STREET / ELM GROVE24 crashes; 1 fatal; 10 serious; harm 216Street ViewGoogle Maps
SYDNEY ROAD / VICTORIA STREET46 crashes; 0 fatal; 18 serious; harm 213Street ViewGoogle Maps

SCATS signal-site exposure layer — Street View

SCATS siteSummaryStreet ViewGoogle Maps
Sydney / BellSite 3054; 4 matched crashes; harm 121Street ViewGoogle Maps
Melville / MorelandSite 4000; 3 matched crashes; harm 111Street ViewGoogle Maps
MORELAND near MURDOCHSite 3886; 1 matched crashes; harm 100Street ViewGoogle Maps
PASCOE VALE near ANSELMSite 3588; 6 matched crashes; harm 44Street ViewGoogle Maps
Sydney / O'HeaSite 4121; 5 matched crashes; harm 42Street ViewGoogle Maps
Sydney / WestonSite 4022; 7 matched crashes; harm 34Street ViewGoogle Maps
Sydney / Gaffney / MurraySite 4115; 6 matched crashes; harm 33Street ViewGoogle Maps
Bell / Melville / TurnerSite 3052; 4 matched crashes; harm 32Street ViewGoogle Maps
PASCOE VALE near BELAIRSite 3603; 7 matched crashes; harm 26Street ViewGoogle Maps
SYDNEY near THE AVENUESite 4131; 7 matched crashes; harm 25Street ViewGoogle Maps
Western Ring Road / Pascoe ValeSite 2172; 5 matched crashes; harm 25Street ViewGoogle Maps
Moreland / CameronSite 3887; 4 matched crashes; harm 23Street ViewGoogle Maps

Top crash locations

Ranked by weighted harm score. Weighting: fatality ×100, serious injury ×10, other injury ×1.

RankLocationCrashesFatalitiesSerious injuriesOther injuriesHarm scoreHV crashesPedBikeMoto
1SYDNEY ROAD / BAKERS ROAD412133636631104
2WESTERN RING ROAD / WIDFORD STREET23211263366101
3SYDNEY ROAD / BARKLY STREET441172929938305
4HOLMES STREET -NICHOLSON STREET / MORELAND ROAD2225192693722
5PASCOE VALE ROAD / FINCHLEY AVENUE112662661300
6SYDNEY ROAD / GAFFNEY STREET35113332632744
7BELL STREET / SYDNEY ROAD491114225221315
8MELVILLE ROAD / HOPE STREET25111192290932
9SYDNEY ROAD / LORNE STREET21111182280321
10BELL STREET / ELM GROVE24110162160501
11SYDNEY ROAD / VICTORIA STREET4501832212012176
12WESTERN RING ROAD / WESTERN RING IN-TULLAMARINE OUT RAMP31017312017002
13MELVILLE ROAD / BREARLEY PARADE1618101902111
14SYDNEY ROAD / DISNEY STREET2117181880211
15COBURG-CRAIGIEBURN ROAD / SYDNEY ROAD1417101801121
16BELL STREET / DAVIS STREET71661660100
17SYDNEY ROAD / BOUNDARY ROAD330132715721012
18SYDNEY ROAD / MORELAND ROAD26013201500743
19PASCOE VALE ROAD / VICTORIA STREET15013181480002
20SYDNEY ROAD / ALBERT STREET400113514525199
21NICHOLSON STREET / BARKLY STREET91441440123
22SYDNEY ROAD / DENYS STREET51431430011
23GLENROY ROAD / PASCOE VALE ROAD1401371371300
24BLYTH STREET / LYGON STREET28012161360795
25SYDNEY ROAD / LYNCH ROAD16012151350011

SCATS signal-site exposure layer

Crash records matched to nearby SCATS sites using the selected proximity radius. This is a signal/intersection-adjacent view, not full road-network attribution.

RankSCATSSiteCrashesFatalitiesSerious injuriesHarm scoreMovementsHarm / millionHVPedBikeMoto
13054Sydney / Bell412121252,271,0890.481211
24000Melville / Moreland311111147,070,3580.751111
33886MORELAND near MURDOCH11010065,487,0521.530100
43588PASCOE VALE near ANSELM60444149,855,7780.290010
54121Sydney / O'Hea50442146,865,2030.290201
64022Sydney / Weston70334108,768,2100.310051
74115Sydney / Gaffney / Murray60333208,907,9330.160100
83052Bell / Melville / Turner40332468,472,2680.073111
93603PASCOE VALE near BELAIR70226204,718,7590.130200
114131SYDNEY near THE AVENUE70225126,997,2180.200221
102172Western Ring Road / Pascoe Vale50225375,339,2040.071000
123887Moreland / Cameron4022373,683,4950.310120
131983Gaffney / Sussex4022237,399,8620.590002
153604PASCOE VALE near MEAKER40222122,180,5790.180100
164021LYGON near WESTON40222123,771,7480.180012
142151Sydney Road / Shorts / Keady30222162,821,5190.140001
174008Melville / Victoria30221105,918,0770.200000
183599Pascoe Vale / Glenroy20220204,433,9030.100100
202162Sydney Road / Jukes60115264,532,8990.060010
192160Sydney Road / Anderson50115249,003,7610.061000
214138NICHOLSON near RENNIE5011597,778,9050.150110
234013Sydney / Albert50114108,353,8570.130022
244130Sydney / Harding / Munro50114126,446,8360.110011
223470Albion nr Gronn4011410,095,2551.390000
252191Sydney / Lorne40113275,853,6570.050200

TIRTL freight-conflict layer

Heavy-vehicle crash records matched to nearby TIRTL freight monitoring sites. This is a freight-corridor candidate layer.

RankTIRTLSiteHV crashesFatalitiesSerious injuriesHarm scoreTrucksTruck share %Harm / million trucks
1TIRTL_135Tullamarine FWY Outbound - Before M80 Overpass (NB)10110138,9981.8471.94
2TIRTL_228M80 - WRR East of Mahoneys Rd AB10110121,6696.0882.19
3TIRTL_226M80 - WRR East of Kathryn St AB4005731,0096.686.84
4TIRTL_134Tullamarine FWY Inbound - After WRR Interchange (SB)1001120,9741.558.27

Road-user summaries

751
Pedestrian crash records
1,020
Bicycle crash records
817
Motorcycle crash records
207
Heavy-vehicle crash records