Speed limit vandalism sparks community backlash in regional Victoria

Police believe regional Victorians who are frustrated by changes to speed limits on country roads in the state's east have taken to vandalising street signs.

Four speed signs along a stretch of Hazelwood Road near Churchill, about a 2-hour drive east of Melbourne, have been sawn off.

In April, the speed limits on the road and Boldings Road in Hazelwood North were permanently reduced from 100 kilometres per hour to 80km/h.

Wellington police inspector Melanie Hamshere said police were investigating the vandalism.

"They are obviously criminal offences being committed," Inspector Hamshere said.

In other parts of the Latrobe Valley, vandals have painted over new signs bearing a reduced speed limit of 60km/h from 80km/h.

The changes have sparked a community backlash. Two separate petitions with hundreds of signatures are calling for the higher speed limit to be restored.

Some motorists say the slashed limits are a cop-out to avoid maintaining damaged roads and have increased travel times, and reduced productivity for regional workers.

Road 'needs further repairs'

Churchill resident Theo Zwetloot said lowering speed limits was the government's way of ignoring pothole maintenance.

"So I've started to petition about it, because what they've done is not fix the road."

He said parts of Hazelwood Road had been previously been repaired, but the works needed more long-term solutions.

"And they're [the state government] still going, 'Oh, let's just do the whole road at 80 kilometres an hour,'" he said.

Mr Zwetloot said the slower limit had increased travel times for commuters, particularly round-the-clock shift workers at Loy Yang Power Station.

Sixteen crashes recorded

The Department of Transport and Planning said there were 16 crashes recorded along the stretch of Hazelwood Road and Boldings Road between August 2020 and August last year.

They resulted in one death, seven serious injuries and eight minor injuries.

"The new speed limit provides a safer environment for road users by lowering the likelihood of loss of control, decreasing the force of impact and increasing reaction time to hazards," a department spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the department conducted fortnightly inspections of the road and would prioritise the removal of any graffiti or vandalism that put other road users at risk, including damage to speed signs.

One of the petitions has been endorsed by Nationals MPs Martin Cameron and Melina Bath, and was tabled in the Victorian parliament.

Mr Cameron said he supported the petition because it was important that roads were fixed effectively instead of reducing speed limits.

"So we're realistically throwing good money away by putting band-aid solutions on our roads."

Th Victorian government included $1 billion in this year's state budget to fix potholes, with 70 per cent of the funding reserved for the regions.

It also included plans to patch 74,000 square metres of Victoria's regional road network in the 2026-27 financial year, compared to 95,000 square metres the previous year.

Near misses and crash risks

Hazelwood North resident Chris Harding said crashes and near-misses were regular occurrences in the area.

"Whilst the road is in the state it's in, I'm happy for it to be 80 kilometres because of the amount of major accidents, minor incidents and near misses; it's a weekly occurrence," Mr Harding said.

"I've had two major accidents within my frontage in the last 12 months.

"The road is in poor condition; it's not maintained very well and there's very little police presence along the road."

Mr Harding said overgrown weeds and grass on government-controlled roadsides made visibility worse.

Reductions 'sometimes necessary'

RACV head of policy James Williams said lower speed limits were sometimes necessary on regional roads where safety ratings were poor.

"RACV certainly understands that from time to time, on a case-by-case basis, governments do have to reduce speed zones on country roads," he said.

Mr Williams said reduced speed limits should be accompanied by clear communication and public education from authorities.

"RACV does also appreciate that absolutely any reduction in speed limits needs to be supported by comprehensive education and awareness-raising by the government," he said.

"Damaging or removing signs is a very serious road safety consequence and that's something that we would certainly call on communities not to do," Mr Williams said.

"However, it does just illustrate the extent to which governments need to take communities on that journey as to why sometimes speed limits do have to be reduced on certain roads."