The Transport Accident Commission data shows 27 people died through road trauma in the City of Greater Bendigo, Campaspe, Loddon, Central Goldfields, Mount Alexander, Mount Macedon, Buloke and Gannawarra shires in 2019.

This marks a 69 per cent increase on 2018, when 16 people were killed through road trauma.

The people who died in central Victoria were among 263 lives lost across the state through road trauma - a 23.5 per cent jump on 2018.

These figures do not include the death of 16-year-old Dante Ross, which has not yet been officially added.

Dante died in hospital on Monday after he was struck by a car while cycling at Strathfieldsaye on Saturday.

Road Safety Minister Jaala Pulford described 2019 as "a devastating year on Victoria's roads" and said the deaths were "overwhelmingly avoidable".

"This is a best mate, a mum, a son, a colleague, a friend, and this represents 263 families, or groups of workmates, groups of friends, who have seen in 2020 in a state of enormous sadness and profound grief," Ms Pulford said.

"This also represents many thousands of people whose lives who have been turned upside down by serious injury."

The majority of those who died in central Victoria last year were the driver of the vehicle.

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Four passengers, one cyclist, two motorcyclists and two pedestrians were also killed.

Macedon Ranges Shire saw the largest number of road deaths with seven, while the City of Greater Bendigo was struck by tragedy on the roads six times.

Older people made up most of those who died - seven road trauma victims were aged 70 or over.

Five were aged in their 60s, and four in their 50s.

Men were vastly overrepresented, making up 22 of the 27 people killed.

Statewide last year, there was a 67 per cent increase in the number of fatalities in provincial towns and cities, and a 16 per cent increase in the number that took place on rural roads.

Of the 263 deaths, 171 per cent happened outside Melbourne.

In the first six months of the year, central Victoria also saw 164 people hospitalised from road trauma, TAC claims data shows.

Among them were 15 pedestrians, five cyclists and 26 motorbike riders.

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Twenty-eight of the people hospitalised were in hospital for two weeks or more.

Ms Pulford said "we all need to do better" when it came to road safety.

Victoria Police's Road Policing Command Assistant Commissioner Libby Murphy said it was not only a matter of police enforcement, but something that required the help of the community.

Assistant Commissioner Murphy said 31 people who died in crashes last year were not wearing a seatbelt.

"This flabbergasts me," she said.

People dying on country roads were country people, she said, who needed to "pay attention and be more aware".

Assistant Commissioner Murphy said mobile phone use and distraction was an ongoing problem, with almost 900 people given infringement notices between December 13 and January 1.

She said there was a long way to go in making people understand the risks of distraction, explaining that someone who looked at their phone while driving at 100 km/h was likely to lose 60 metres of distance to distraction.

Speeding, drugs and alcohol were other dangerous behaviours that persisted, she said.

TAC chief executive officer Joe Calafiore said there was some apathy in the community when it came to road safety.

He said the road safety body would go out with "blunt, hard-hitting" messages in an attempt to turn this around.