Victoria Police’s traffic boss is imploring people to be more careful when driving after five people died on Victorian roads on Wednesday.

A motorcyclist died when he collided with a car at Mornington, south-east of Melbourne, and a few hours later, a woman died after her car collided with a truck in Mildura, in the state’s north-west.

Another woman died in a single-vehicle crash east of Bendigo, in central Victoria, and two people died last night when their car crashed into a tree after trying to avoid hitting a kangaroo at Denver, near Daylesford.

Assistant Commissioner Doug Fryer, from the Road Policing Command, said driver complacency was behind Victoria’s rising road toll which now stands at 248.

“Our roads are safer and our cars are safer, but our driver behaviour doesn’t seem to be changing the way it should be.”

In 2015, 252 people were killed on Victoria’s roads.

“We’re seeing people making minor mistakes with fatal consequences,” Assistant Commissioner Fryer said.

Accidents on country roads have claimed the lives of 130 people.

“Why are people running off perfectly good roads whilst sitting on 100 kilometres per hour?” he asked.

“We’re not talking about people speeding, we’re talking about people travelling at 100km/h in a 100km/h zone who get distracted and run off the road and hit a tree.”

People looking at their laps at stoplights

Assistant Commissioner Fryer said mobile phone use while driving was a significant part of the problem.

“Everyone knows when they’re travelling on our freeways and highways and roads, they’re seeing people looking at their laps at a set of lights,” he said.

“They’re seeing people with mobile phones in their hands when they’re driving.

“This is happening all over the place and, while we gave out 37,000 fines last year, that is the tip of the iceberg of what sort of use is actually going on in the cars.”

Assistant Commissioner Fryer said simply obeying the road laws would dramatically reduce the state’s road toll.

“Don’t speed, don’t look at your mobile phone phone, don’t get distracted [and] only drive when you’re right to drive, without drugs or alcohol in your system,” he said.

– with ABC