Participants logged 10,048 requests for road improvements over a seven-week period. Road surface conditions and potholes were the number one safety issue for 71 per cent of respondents – an increase from the 64 per cent in the 2024 My Country Road survey.
The top three most dangerous regional roads identified by respondents were the Princes Highway West, Colac to Camperdown; the Princes Highway West, Portland to Port Fairy; and Loddon Valley Highway, Bendigo to Kerang.
The campaign short-listed 52 sections of country highways that RACV and the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) identified as high-risk, based on Australian Road Assessment Program (AusRAP) data, crash history and traffic volumes. Respondents had the opportunity to identity issues and solutions with those road sections, or nominate their own road of concern.
RACV Head of Public Policy James Williams said the results sent an unmistakable message about where road funding should be directed.
“Victorians have told us that the State’s crumbling road network is what worries them most,” Mr Williams said.
“Seven in 10 of the concerns raised through this campaign came back to potholes and deteriorating surfaces, and almost three-quarters of the fixes people asked for were as simple as resurfacing the road.
“RACV will take these results to government and press for targeted investment in the roads that the Government’s own safety ratings and regional Victorians have identified.”
For the 2026 My Country Road campaign, regional Victoria was divided into five regions (west, northwest, northeast, east and southwest), each with a short-list of roads. Victorians were asked to vote for the roads they believed were most dangerous, identify what was wrong with them, and suggest what should be done to fix them.
Regional results
Northwestern Victoria:
- Loddon Valley Highway, Bendigo to Kerang
- Northern Highway, Echuca to Heathcote
- Northern Highway and McIvor Highway, Wallan to Bendigo.
Northeastern Victoria:
- Melba Highway, Yea to Dixons Creek
- Goulburn Valley Highway and Maroondah Highway, Yea to Mansfield
- Murray Valley Highway, Wodonga to Tallangatta.
Regional Cities Victoria (RCV) says RACV’s latest road report adds to mounting evidence that Victoria needs to stop patching its deteriorating regional roads and start properly rebuilding them.
RCV Chair councillor Ben Blain said the findings closely reflected what regional councils had been telling the State Government.
“RACV, the Auditor-General, councils and now thousands of motorists are all telling us the same thing – our regional road network is broken,” Cr Blain said.
Peter "Tiki" Mason, a 71-year-old motorbike rider from Ballarat, died after hitting a pothole on the Western Highway, near Trawalla Rd west of Ballarat recently.
