Source : Perth Now news
Victoria has an “alarmingly high” number of roads in poor condition, a transport expert says in the wake of a motorcyclist dying after hitting a pothole.
The motorcyclist died in country Victoria on Sunday, and while exactly what happened is still being pieced together, police were quick to confirm the rider hit a pothole, crashed and died.
Swinburne transportation expert Jo Kuys told NewsWire the state of Victoria’s roads were particularly bad.
“There’s an alarmingly high percentage of poor road conditions here in Victoria, which is unfortunate – and it’s a direct impact for drivers and also pedestrians,” Professor Kuys said.
A key balancing act for local and state governments is patchwork pothole repairs versus “rehabilitation”, which is recoating a degraded road or ripping up and relaying.
“Our primary long-term maintenance strategy isn’t hitting that mark of preventive measures,” Professor Kuys said.
“That’s something the government, when they’re targeting funding, needs to pay closer attention to.
“Because to be honest, potholes and patch repairs, they are very important, but it could be prevented if we have the rehabilitation.”
The Swinburne academic said patchwork could actually turn out to be more expensive per square metre than deeper and broader work.
Balancing maintenance work with rehabilitation was “a very complex strategy”, she said.
“Not to blame any strategy, but if there is an incident like this (motorcyclist’s death), this really highlights the need for monitoring,” Professor Kuys said.
“Potholes and patch repairs are done on a regular basis, but based on visual failures, which is scraping the surface, it’s not getting to the bottom of that ongoing maintenance which is very important for upkeep.”
Just before 1pm on Sunday, lifelong motorcyclist Peter “Tiki” Mason hit a pothole on the Western Highway near Ballarat. The 71-year-old died at the scene.
Just three hours after the crash, police put out a statement saying he “struck a pothole and lost control”, while crash investigators also called for anyone with footage to come forward.
A friend and fellow motorbike enthusiast told the Herald Sun he and Mr Mason often and recently spoke about the potholes. Another friend said the stretch of road his mate died on was “treacherous”.
Mr Mason was president of the Ballarat Eureka Social Riders.
The death came just days after a damning report from the Victorian Auditor-General. The report found half of the state’s road network was in a poor or very poor condition, and the backlog of potholes waiting to be filled was growing.
Roads Minister Paul Hamer said crews would be out on Monday patching the section of the Western Highway where Mr Mason died, and larger works were planned for that section in October.
Premier Ben Carroll said on radio on Monday that hundreds of millions of dollars had been redirected from level crossing works to fill 500,000 potholes this coming summer.
With the state election just 11 weeks away, the Liberal and National opposition has committed $5bn over four years on maintenance and pothole fixes.
“This is a terrible tragedy and my heart goes out to the deceased and his family,” Coalition deputy leader Danny O’Brien said.
“This is the saddest possible consequence to have come from the terrible state of Victorian roads and it should never have come to this.”
