Motorcycle Enhanced Maintenance Scheme Route Trial

November 2023

We're trialling a scheme to help improve road safety for motorcyclists travelling on popular motorcycle routes in Victoria.

Our network’s road surface plays an important role in the safety of motorcyclists, far more than any other road user.

Defects, debris and other hazards can create unsafe conditions for motorcyclists by reducing the amount of friction or creating an uneven road surface. These defects may include rutting of the road surface, corrugation, potholes, road edge damage, swelling or roots from trees pushing through the road surface.

The risk of motorcycle crashes can be minimised by ensuring the road surface is smooth and has adequate skid resistance.

Background

Minor roads in rural and regional areas of Victoria that have less traffic often receive a smaller share of maintenance funding because they are not considered routes of strategic importance to freight or communities. However, the nature of these rural and regional roads being they curve through undulating and mountain terrains, means they attract many recreational motorcycle riders. The state of these rural and regional roads, combined with a higher number of motorcycle riders, sometimes results in motorcycle crashes that lead to serious injury and/or death.

A trial of a new scheme is hoping to improve how quickly maintenance funding is allocated to popular motorcycle routes in rural and regional Victoria.

The Motorcycle Enhanced Maintenance Scheme (MEMS) is a method that proposes to improve road maintenance standards on routes that impact motorcycle safety.

Once the two-year trial is finished in April 2025, data collected will be evaluated to see how successful it was in reducing motorcycle crashes and injuries.

The scheme is being trialled along 70km of Dargo Road, from Lindenow Road, Lindenow to Lind Avenue, Dargo.

This route has been identified as an area where high numbers of crashes involving motorcycles occurred in a five-year period between October 2016 to October 2021. A high proportion of these motorcycle crashes resulted in either serious injury or death.

The $5 million trial is being funded by the Transport Accident Commission via the Motorcycle Safety Levy.

What we’re doing

Pre-trial evaluations and maintenance works were recently carried out before the two-year trial begins in November.

Over the trial, the route will:

• Be inspected once a fortnight (at a minimum)
• Have road surface issues (including potholes, ruts, depressions, edge drop-offs, low skid resistance) fixed in a shorter time
• Have lower tolerance levels of road surface issues
• Be swept of debris more frequently

During the trial, it is hoped to capture detailed rider impressions by engaging one or more experienced motorcycle riders to survey the road and provide formal commentary on their impression of conditions and perceived safety.

Get in touch

Call: 133 778