Independent Riders' Group spokesman Damien Codognotto OAM said too much money was directed towards what he called “show roads” in Melbourne at the expense of regional Victoria.

“Basically the road authority, VicRoads, puts a large part of it’s resources into show roads, big, fancy, flash roads that have silly sculptures on the side and both Melbourne’s lesser roads and certainly rural Victoria suffer,” he said.

“They don’t get the proper maintenance that’s required to have good surfaces and remain in a safe condition.

“We think the neglect of rural roads and some lesser roads in urban areas is dangerous.”

Mr Codognotto said riders were not only particularly vulnerable to poor road conditions, but also in a unique position to assess hazards.

“It’s an issue for any two wheelers, bicyclists too because bicyclists can get up enough speed to do themselves damage if they hit a pot hole and come off, they’re not wearing the same protective gear we are,” he said.

“The other thing is motorcycle and scooter riders of course are sensitive to road conditions and if they improve the roads for us they improve it for all road users.”

Mr Codognotto said it was for this reason, as well as improved driver behaviour, that regional areas like Bendigo should have a permanent fleet of motorcycle police similar to those in metropolitan areas.

“We would think that a pair of those big police BMWs cruising up and down the main highways would serve two purposes, it would serve the purpose of [deterring bad behaviour] and they would also act as observers of the road conditions,” he said.

“They would be sensitive to potholes and gravel and road debris and they could then have an influence in reporting to VicRoads when there were problems.”

Mr Codognotto also said too many incidents where a rider came off their motorcycle due to encountering an animal on the road were going unreported in official statistics, leading to the scale of the problem being underestimated.

“If a kangaroo jumps across the road in front of a motorcyclist you can crash while trying to avoid the animal and not even hit the animal,” he said.

“When the injured rider is picked up they write it up as a single vehicle crash, lost control of his bike or her bike and it may not be that at all.”

VicRoads acting regional director David Runnalls said the Victorian government had spent $1 billion to upgrade unsafe and congested roads, bridges and level crossings in regional communities. 

“There has also been a significant focus on regional and rural roads as part of the Towards Zero Road Safety Strategy and Action Plan,” he said.

“A key feature of Towards Zero 2016-2020, is a rebalancing of priorities towards country Victoria, given that this is where over half of road fatalities occur and with a fatality rate four times that of metropolitan Melbourne. 

“The centrepiece of the plan is a record investment in safer roads infrastructure, particularly on high-speed rural roads, where 44 per cent of lives are lost.”

Mr Runnalls said $340 million was also being invested in country roads and highways in every corner of the state as part of a high-speed rural roads safety package. 

“In the north-central region of the state for example, VicRoads manages almost 4000 kilometres of roads, over 8000 kilometres of roadsides and centre medians (between freeway carriageways, and outside to each fence line) and around 830 bridges and major culverts,” he said.

“During the 2016/17 financial year, nearly $37 million will be invested in this region’s maintenance and repair program, which takes in a range of activities including pothole repairs, major resurfacing of some roads and improved street lighting and line-marking.”

Mr Runnalls said VicRoads’ crash reports utilised police data, including the vehicle type, the location, time and date, the number of people injured and where possible the cause of the crash, i.e. a motorcyclist hitting an animal. 

“It’s important to note that there can be many reasons why a crash is not reported, particularly where motorcyclist may have come off their bike avoiding a near miss with a kangaroo and possibly suffered no personal injury,” he said.

So far 207 motorists have lost their lives on Victorian roads this year, including 40 motorcyclists.