The crumbling state of Victoria's roads has been singled out as the top safety issue plaguing the country network.
More than 7000 Victorians were surveyed by the RACV on the safety of regional roads across the state.
Sixty-four per cent of motorists who responded identified potholes and poor road condition as the biggest safety issue, up from 46 per cent in 2021.
Speeding and dangerous driving (32 per cent) from other drivers - the top factor in 2021 - received less than half the number of responses.
The survey used an online interactive map that showed high-speed roads with large concentrations of crashes causing death or serious injury in regional Victoria.
More than half of the participants agreed the speed limit on the top 12 most dangerous roads should be reduced, while 78 per cent identified a location to be dangerous or very dangerous.
The Melba Highway from Coldstream to Yea copped the most safety concerns, followed by Tylden-Woodend Road from Woodend to Tylden, Kilmore Road from Monegeetta to Gisborne, and the Goulburn Valley Highway from Nagambie to Shepparton.
Responses to the 2024 survey were up 75 per cent from the 4000 received in 2021.
“The number of responses received is a strong indicator that Victorians are concerned about safety on regional roads and are calling for urgent improvement," RACV policy head James Williams said.
Improving road surface (60 per cent), wider shoulders (23 per cent), wider lanes (15 per cent) and lower and more appropriate speed limits (14 per cent) were the top-voted solutions.
The RACV plans to use the data to urge the state government and local councils to make commitments that deliver safer regional roads.
Roads and Road Safety Minister Melissa Horne noted Victoria's regional road network was devastated by catastrophic flooding in 2022.
"We had 63 local government areas that were absolutely inundated by those floods out of 79," she told reporters on Tuesday.
"That had a massive impact on our roads."
Ms Horne said crews had filled hundreds of thousands of potholes as part of a extensive repair works and denied the government was using weather events as an excuse.
"What was one-in-100-year events are now commonplace," she said.
"That is why we've got that long-term strategic funding."
The latest Victorian state budget committed $6.6 billion for road maintenance over the next decade, including $964 million in 2024/25.
But opposition spokesman Danny O'Brien claimed government funding for resurfacing and resealing contracts on Victorian roads dropped dramatically last financial year.
"Successive years of budget cuts have left our roads in a dire state," he said.
TOP ISSUES FOR SURVEY RESPONDENTS ON SAFETY OF ROADS:
Potholes/road condition - 64 per cent
Dangerous behaviours of other drivers (ie: speeding, erratic driving) - 32 per cent
Narrow lanes/road - 29 per cent
Intersection safety issues - 26 per cent
Limited overtaking opportunities - 24 per cent
