The death of a motorcyclist who reportedly hit a pothole has put Victoria’s government under renewed pressure over the condition of the state’s roads.
Emergency services were called to Trawalla, west of Ballarat, shortly before 1pm on Sunday after reports that a motorcycle had struck a pothole. The 71-year-old rider, from Ballarat, died at the scene after reportedly losing control on the Western Highway near Trawalla Road.
On Monday the rider was identified as Peter Mason, also known as Tiki, who was the president of a social motorcycle club, Eureka Social Riders, and was widely respected within the community.
Police are still investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash, which were yet to be determined on Sunday. But the death has revived concerns about the quality of Victoria’s public roads, a key issue in the lead-up to the November state election.
“He was a kind, true-blue person, and his passing leaves a real hole in all our hearts,” Pedro, the founder another social motorcycle club, Easyriders Australia, wrote on Facebook.
“We also can’t ignore how preventable this feels. The pothole crisis isn’t just a Victorian problem, it’s nationwide. And the ongoing failure to repair dangerous roads, despite endless complaints, is unacceptable.”
Michael White from the podcast Hogs, Cogs and Two Aussie Flogs described Mason’s death as “completely senseless”.
“Surprise surprise, we haven’t been banging on about this for three years, have we?” White said. “And now we’ve got a fatality of an absolute gentleman.”
The Victorian Liberal leader, Jess Wilson, said Mason’s death was “avoidable”, while Nationals leader and the opposition spokesperson for roads, Danny O’Brien, said it was a “tragedy that simply just shouldn’t have happened”.
“Peter Mason went out on a Sunday afternoon for a ride with a mate, and he didn’t come home,” Wilson said. “He should have. We have roads littered with potholes and a government that has failed to do the basics right.”
after newsletter promotion
An auditor general report, tabled in parliament last week, examined more than 23,000km of state roads and found 48% of the network was in poor or very poor condition – up from 39% in 2021.
The report also found the roads were “deteriorating” faster than the government could repair them: the gap between the number of road defects recorded and those repaired doubled between January 2025 and June 2026.
According to the auditor general, the Department of Transport told the government before the May budget it needed $3bn a year to maintain road pavement at existing levels while replacing ageing assets. But the government allocated only $1.04bn in the budget for 2026-27.
This was since increased by $352m by the new Victorian premier, Ben Carroll, who pledged to double the number of potholes fixed in 2026 from 250,000 to 500,000. The Victorian Coalition, meanwhile, has pledged $5bn over four years to plug 1m potholes and re-establish preventive road maintenance.
On Monday Carroll, described the incident as “a tragic loss of life”.
“Victoria police have been clear that the circumstances are still under investigation, so I’m not going to pre-empt that,” he said in a statement. “I know road conditions aren’t good enough.”
Speaking on ABC Radio Melbourne, he accepted responsibility for the condition of the roads, saying: “The buck does stop with us.”
“I’ve made it very clear there cannot be any more buck passing on road maintenance. That’s why I have said, under my government – it was outsourced in the mid-1990s – I’m going to bring road maintenance back inside of government.”
