A retired spray painter and avid motorcyclist went for a weekend experience with a mate. He hit a pothole and by no means returned.
Peter Mason, 71, generally known as ‘Tiki’ was using alongside a stretch of street on the Western Freeway close to Trawalla when his bike struck a pothole at velocity, inflicting him to lose management and fall over his handlebars.
He had been using with a fellow member of the Eureka Social Riders Membership, a motorbike group based mostly in Ballarat, of which he had been the inaugural president since 2019.
The lengthy stretch of freeway, situated west of Ballarat, has been described as being in a relentless state of disrepair, with motorists who’re cautious of potholes often avoiding the world.
Now, the much-maligned street has develop into a flashpoint of grief and confusion for a local people who’ve been left shocked following Mason’s surprising demise.
“Because the membership continues to be coming to phrases with this tragedy, his spouse is ready for relations to reach from interstate and New Zealand, they’re asking for a while earlier than making a press release, hopefully later immediately,” Eureka Social Riders Membership spokesperson David Turner mentioned.
“All I can say is that we’re all grieving and perplexed a couple of man who commanded a lot respect from his friends.”
Police investigators left the crash scene alongside the westbound lanes on the Beaufort aspect of the Trawalla overpass at about 10am on Monday.
Two main potholes stay.
The primary is within the left lane, simply earlier than the overpass guardrail ends, and close to the place small yellow markings on the aspect of the street start.
The second is 100 metres additional alongside the street within the right-hand lane. It’s rougher than the primary, and police intently inspected it on Monday morning.
An obvious previous try to restore it has been unsuccessful, with a patch of newer bitumen solely loosely related to the street’s floor, rising barely when automobiles drive over it and crumbling away when examined by a slight pull of hand.
In the meantime, the northern aspect of the street close to Trawalla is a lot better and seems to have been resurfaced not too long ago.
The contemporary white strains and darkish bitumen on the street to Ballarat stand out in overcast skies.
Jimmy Mat Elkan, a neighborhood motorcyclist of greater than 20 years, mentioned he nearly got here off his personal bike using alongside the freeway close to Ballarat final week.
“It’s dangerous all over the place. I simply handed that space final weekend and I noticed a automobile going over with a truck – there are sections which have been dodgy for ages,” he mentioned.
Premier Ben Carroll has mentioned the federal government would prioritise fixing roads closely utilized by motorcyclists forward of the election after Sunday’s crash.
“I’ll do every thing I can to ensure Victorians know that I’ll convey street upkeep again inside of presidency,” he informed ABC on Monday.
Labor has pledged to make use of minimal safety prisoners to repair potholes as a part of a radical plan to elevate the requirements of the state’s roads.
Knowledge from a Victorian Auditor Common’s report on the standard of the state’s roads launched final week exhibits there have been 10 open potholes alongside the 500-kilometre stretch of the Western Freeway that runs by regional Victoria as of June 2026.
Nonetheless, the information exhibits that within the two years to June 2026, a complete 7405 potholes opened up alongside that stretch, from Moorabool on the outer fringe of the western suburbs to West Wimmera on the state’s border with South Australia, with all however 10 of them mended by the point surveys have been carried out.
The info exhibits that the Western Freeway was second solely to the Princes Freeway when it got here to pothole reviews, however that street authorities have been higher at plugging them shortly in contrast with another roads within the state.
Within the month of June alone, a complete of 773 new potholes opened up alongside the Western Freeway, however all however 9 have been mended that very same month.
The report additionally exhibits that just about half of the Western Freeway that was surveyed was in very poor situation for remaining street life, with very poor being outlined as roads with lower than 5 years of helpful life remaining. That represents an increase of 20 per cent since 2021.
In Pyrenees, the native authorities space the place Sunday’s deadly bike crash happened, 31 per cent of the Western Freeway was in very poor situation in 2024, and 11.8 per cent was in superb situation (basically, a street in new situation).
However in 2022, none of that part of street was surveyed as being in very poor and 48.1 per cent of the street was in superb situation.
In accordance with the VAGO knowledge, there have been no open potholes alongside the Western Freeway in Pyrenees as of June 2026, however a complete of 1055 had been recognized and glued over a two-year interval.
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