A motorcyclist has died after hitting apparently hitting a pothole on a notorious Victorian highway, as the issue of crumbling roads heats up ahead of the state election.

The 71-year-old man, from Ballarat, died after clipping the pothole on the Western Highway at Trawalla on Sunday.

“Emergency services responded to reports a motorcycle had struck a pothole and lost control on the Western Highway, near Trawalla Road, just before 12.50pm,” said Victoria Police.

“The rider, a 71-year-old Ballarat man, died at the scene.

“The exact circumstances surrounding the crash are yet to be determined and will be investigated.”

Victoria’s auditor-general last week found almost half of the state’s road network was crumbling, with 48 per cent in poor or very poor condition in 2024.

State Premier Ben Carroll last month pledged to spend
$352 million to fix half a million potholes.

In late August, Carroll said Labor would double the number of potholes fixed on the state’s roads from 250,000 to 500,000 within the next financial year.

“The condition of our roads is not good enough,” he said.

He said most of the work would be done when the weather was driest, in the second half of this year and into January.

Key Victorian arterial roads will be prioritised. They include the Geelong Ring Road, Western Highway, Calder Highway and Princes Highway, and regional roads.

Opposition police spokesman Brad Battin questioned the timing of Carroll’s announcement, given the election on November 28, and claimed Labor had “neglected” roads for 12 years.

“Five minutes before an election and all of a sudden Ben Carroll has found there’s potholes in Victoria,” he said.

“Now he’s come out with a small patch fix for a major problem in Victoria.”

In July, the Liberal-National opposition pledged to invest $5 billion over four years to repair and rebuild Victoria’s roads, including repairing a million potholes. Its plan involves a 25 per cent increase on current spending.

Victorian voter’s top concerns about re-electing Labor were corruption and integrity failures, financial mismanagement and debt, union influence and crime, according to a poll released by Roy Morgan on August 11.

Regional neglect including poor roads ranked at four per cent of voter concerns in the polling.

Anyone who witnessed the crash, has CCTV/dashcam footage or anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit an online confidential report at crimestoppersvic.com.au.

-with AAP