For years riders and other motorists have been asked to report road hazards such as potholes to their state road authority.

However, local authorities seem to ignore the repot, respond slowly or respond with inappropriate measures.

In one recent instance, rider Mick Rider (no joke!) reported concerns about a section of the Hume Highway, that suffered melt damage and was covered in marble-like gravel by VicRoads, and speed reduced to 80km/h from 110km/h.

“This has resulted in a worse mess than when it was just melting, with VicRoads attempting to cool with water spraying the last few days,” he says.

“Insufficient speed reduction for motorcycles to navigate extremely hazardous surface now resulting in dual lane traffic showering with gravel. 

“In addition to that, the four-wheel traffic has created mounds of this gravel between wheel tracks in lanes.”

He reported the matter to VicRoads at 5.45pm on 25 January by phone. 

Motorcycle Riders Association of Australia regional spokesperson Cate Grace posted the comments on their Facebook page and another motorist posted footage on TikTok.

“Noted that one local had reported to VicRoads 5 days prior, and their response was blasé to say the least,” she says.

It’s not the first time melting tar has been an issue.

In 2018, we reported on how new roadwork immediately began melting on the Mt Glorious Road in Queensland and in 2019, sand and then water were used in an attempt to “fix” a similar issue on the Oxley Highway in NSW.

Over the past few years we have reported numerous cases where riders have crashed in unacceptable road conditions thanks to poor design, inferior surfacing and a lack of maintenance.

In one incident a rider successfully sued VicRoads after a crash on a poorly maintained Victorian road.

Potholes and other road maintenance issues are frequently cited in local and international studies.

A 2018 British Automobile Association survey found that while potholes cause damage to cars, they are a greater injury threat to riders with riders three times more likely to be involved in crashes caused by potholes and poor road surfaces than any other vehicle type.

A 244-page 2016 Austroads report, titled “Infrastructure Improvements to Reduce Motorcycle Casualties”, found that roads need to be better designed, funded and maintained to reduce the risk of motorcycle crashes.

And while riders are urged to report road defects, that only yields a result if the problem is promptly fixed.

Cate says five days after Mick’s complaint nothing had been done.

“VicRoads contractors and traffic management continue to ignore motorcycle riders and place them at risk, not just from the hazardous road conditions, but other road user behaviour in poor conditions not appropriately signed,” she says.

“How many times do we have to complain?  How many times do riders have to suffer damage to motorcycles, themselves, and death, before VicRoads comes down on their Contractors hard, and ensures they’re compliant?”

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com

Four years after melting tar on the Mt Glorious Rd west of Brisbane in 2017 resulted in at least one rider crashing and after recent multi-million-dollar roadworks, the issue of melting tar is back again on the popular motorcyclist road.

The Motorcycle Advocacy Group Facebook page is warning riders to take care on the Mt Glorious Road from Samford as “the new surface is falling to bits since the weather warmed up”.

“The esses are particularly bad especially from the beehives down. Be extra careful,” their page says.

The issue of melting tar is not exclusive to Queensland nor to the popular Mt Glorious motorcycle road.

The Oxley Highway in NSW, which is a Meccas to many riders, also offered melting issues in 2019 and water was sprayed over the highway to blast away excess bitumen and cool the road down after it began melting.

The Mt Glorious Rd melting surface issue comes after more than $11 million worth of roadworks and almost four years of consultation between Queensland Main Roads and the Motorcycle Advocacy Group (MAG).

“At every stage we told them this was an unsuitable surface. They ignored us and argued with us.”

MAG spokesman Stuart Langfield says they warned of two prior upgrades which were also “unsuitable and had to be ripped up and re-laid”.

Stuart contacted the department after a recent hot weekend to complain about the dangerous melting surface which has been further eroded by trucks.

“I was able to push my index finger into the surface and remove stones at all of the three levels laid,” he says.

The issue will only get worse through summer as the temperature heats up.

MAG had asked for “hotmix” bitumen on the surface which a contractor had told them was only $25 per ton more expensive than the present surface.

“A miniscule amount in the scheme of things now this road too requires ripping up and replacing with that very material,” Stuart says.

“Further to that the next stage upgrade on the western side of Mt Glorious is about to commence and no doubt it will suffer the same fate.

“This is a blatant waste of $11m and a flagrant disregard for the input of concerned parties.”

Stuart says MAG raised the issue of the public service ignoring public input at a recent Parliamentary investigation into road safety. 

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com

Reporting potholes and other road damage to relevant authorities can pay off, says a long-time advocate for better road maintenance to save the lives of riders.

Rodney Brown says he reported a massive pothole on McGeorge Road, South Gisbourne, to Victorian Roads Minister Ben Carroll and was surprised to find it had then been fixed.

He says the Minister passed the information on to the Macedon Rangers Shire Council who quickly remedied the dangerous road surface.

They also relied to Rod and said “I hope I have educated our road safety decision-makers to promptly fix our roads, especially for motorcyclists”.

Rod says the design of motorcycles and scooters means they have unique dynamic stability characteristics that make them more “sensitive to changes in the shape, texture or skid resistance of the road surface, including the presence of water, potholes, ruts, poor road matching or debris on the road”.

“Too many motorcyclists are dying on our roads throughout Victoria due to road damage not being considered,” Rod says.

In fact, a 2018 British Automobile Association survey found that riders are three times more likely to be involved in crashes caused by potholes and poor road surfaces than any other vehicle type.

It found that while potholes cause damage to cars, they are a greater injury threat to riders as they have to swerve to avoid potholes which can also cause crashes.

Also, a World Health Organization Global status report on road safety 2018 found that the motorcycle road toll could be reduced by improving roads along with other issues such as better speed and alcohol/drug use enforcement, safer motorbikes and mandatory helmet laws.

Rod says road authorities are expected to establish reasonable standards for road construction, inspection, maintenance and prompt repairs so that roads are suitable for all vehicles, including motorcyclists. 

“Maintenance contractors have an obligation to ensure that where works are carried out on the road, these are done in a manner that ensures the safety of all road users, and that the road surface is correctly reinstated or altered.”

However, it is also important for riders to be involved by reporting road damage to relevant authorities.

If the issue is not fixed, at least a rider who crashes as a result the damage may be able to sue council since it had been alerted to the issue.

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com