Drivers have spoken on the state of Victoria’s country roads

Staff WriterJuly 30, 2024, 10:33 amJuly 30, 2024

The poor state of Victoria's regional roads, riddled with potholes and in disrepair has been highlighted by respondents to an RACV survey

Goulburn Valley Highway near Shepparton. Image: RACV

For anyone who’s driven the Melba Highway from Coldstream to Yea recently it will come as little surprise this piece of crumbling road topped the chart when it came to reports of safety issues with Victoria’s country roads.

The size and location of the potholes on this stretch of road make it difficult to dodge without swerving across the white lines, increasing the risk of accidents on the one hand and damage to the cars and trucks on the other.

Victorian drivers have had their say on the state of their country roads via the RACV My Country Road survey, the results of which have been released today.

More than 7,000 people participated in the survey, with 64 per cent of participants identifying potholes and poor road conditions as the top issues they’d like to see fixed.

RACV Head of Policy James Williams says the data from the survey indicates the condition of regional roads has become a major safety concern for Victorians.

“As a safety advocate, it’s important that RACV closely examines what Victorians think are the factors contributing to unsafe road conditions, so we can provide that information to all levels of government and encourage action,” Williams says.

“While in 2021, dangerous driver behaviour was the biggest safety concern on regional roads, this year poor road conditions received more than double the number of responses as dangerous driver behaviour.

“Fifty-eight per cent of the survey participants told us that they use the road they identified every day, and that level of local knowledge has been invaluable to identifying Victoria’s most unsafe roads.

“Six of the top roads identified in the 2021 survey appear again this year, including the Melba Highway, Bass Highway, Bacchus Marsh Road, Phillip Island Road, Warburton Highway, and the junction of the Midland Highway and Howard Street in Epsom.

“Sixteen of the twenty-one most dangerous roads identified in the 2021 survey received upgrades and improvements by government; but more work needs to be undertaken to improve the safety of regional roads.”

The survey used an online interactive map that showed high-speed roads with large concentrations of crashes causing death or serious injury in regional Victoria.

The map highlighted roads with speed limits of 80km per hour or higher where there have been fatal or serious crashes for the five-year period between 2018 and 2023. Participants provided feedback by clicking on one of the highlighted roads and filling out a survey. Participants were also able to nominate another road in regional Victoria that they felt posed a risk to drivers.

The number of responses to the 2024 My Country Road survey increased by more than 75 per cent from the 4,000 responses to the 2021 survey.

My Country Road forms part of the Have Your Say survey series which, together with My Melbourne Road and My Home, helps RACV to continue to advocate for Victorians on the issues that are most important to them.

While the full results of the My Country Road survey are available at racv.com.au/haveyoursay what follows is a summary of the top 12 roads to receive responses, and the road safety issues identified.

The following roads received the most responses:

Melba Hwy, Coldstream to Yea (B300)
Tylden-Woodend Road, Woodend to Tylden (C317)
Kilmore Road, Monegeetta to Gisborne (C708)
Goulburn Valley Hwy, Nagambie to Shepparton (A39)
Princes Hwy, Warrnambool to Portland (A1)
Western Hwy, Trawalla to Beaufort (A8)
Bass Hwy, Jam Jerrup to Leongatha (M420/B460)
Princes Hwy, Colac to Stonyford (A1)
Princes Hwy, Stratford to Bairnsdale (A1)
Great Alpine Road, Bairnsdale to Wangaratta (B500)
Bacchus Marsh Road, Balliang to Lara (C704)
Phillip Island Road, Phillip Island (B420).

Top issues participants identified as contributing to how safe the roads are:

64% – Potholes/road condition
32% – Dangerous behaviours of other drivers (e.g. speeding, erratic driving)
29% – Narrow lanes/road
26% – Intersection safety issues
24% – Limited overtaking opportunities.

State-wide top voted solutions:

60% – Improve road surface
23% – Wider shoulders (edges of road)
15% – Wider lanes
14% – A lower/more appropriate speed limit
13% – Clear trees/vegetation/other obstructions
12% – Intersection safety improvements.

State-wide stats:

56 per cent of participants believe the speed limit on the top 12 most dangerous roads should be reduced.
61 per cent of participants identified locations where they believe the 90+ km/h speed limit should be 80/km/h or below.
78 per cent of responses identified a location to be dangerous or very dangerous.
Northern Region received the highest response rate, followed by the Southwestern Region.

The top three roads for each region (those that received the most responses):

Southwest Region