Community
18 April, 2024
Have your say on crumbling country roads
A SOUTH west mayor has urged the community to provide feedback about how safe they feel on roads in regional Victoria in hopes collective voices will prompt government action.
RACV has recently opened its My Country Road survey, which uses an online interactive map showing high-speed roads with large concentrations of crashes causing death or serious injury in regional Victoria.
The map highlights 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 can provide feedback by clicking on one of the highlighted roads and filling out a survey.
Participants are also welcome to nominate another road in regional Victoria which they believe poses a risk to drivers.
Moyne Shire mayor Ian Smith urged the community to make their voices heard to increase the odds of government intervention.
“Roads are the number one issue raised with us as councillors, so this survey is another tool people can use to highlight roads that are in poor condition,” he said.
“The survey will provide information to all levels of government and will provide another tool in our advocacy efforts to increase funding for improvements.
“If we can all work together to highlight the perilous condition of our roads - in particular state-controlled roads - with one unified voice.
“That’s when governments listen.”
RACV general manager automotive services Jackie Pedersen said RACV would use the survey results to help make regional roads safer.
“RACV conducted the first My Country Road survey back in 2021, and 31 regional roads were highlighted as having serious safety issues,” she said.
“Of these, 16 have seen infrastructure upgrades commence or committed to by government.
“In 2023 there were 174 deaths on regional Victorian roads; that is an almost 30 per cent increase on the previous year.
“Given these tragic numbers, it is more important than ever that Victorians help us to make country roads safer by completing this year’s survey.”
Cr Smith said Moyne Shire was home to around 3564km of roads, which presents “a huge challenge each year to maintain, repair and restore them”.
He said the roads within Moyne Shire are divided into two main categories - arterial roads (603km) which the State Government manages and municipal roads (2961 km) which council has responsibility for.
“We want feedback on all types of roads – to help paint the picture and to build the case for increased levels of funding from all levels of government,” Cr Smith said.
The survey will remain open until the end of April.
Take part in the My Country Road online survey visit www.racv.com.au/haveyoursay.