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Disgruntled locals in regional Victoria have taken to sawing off speed limit signs in protest of a drop from 100km/h to 80km/h on a regularly used local road.
In March, two roads near Churchill, two hours east of Melbourne, were reduced by 20km/h, authorities citing an increased risk of accidents. The affected roads are the main thoroughfares connecting Churchill to Traralgon, a major centre.
But residents say the road is poorly maintained and full of potholes, and that the drop to 80km/h is unnecessary.
Two speed limit signs were sawn off by vandals, while on a third road with a newly lowered limit, a 60km/h sign was spray-painted on John Field Drive in nearby Newborough.
The response comes after years of lowered regional speed limits across Victoria.
The Department of Transport and Planning told ABC News there were 16 crashes on Hazelwood Road and Boldings Road in the five years to August 2025, with one fatality, seven serious injuries and eight minor injuries.
The department said the lower speed limits reduced the likelihood of a car losing control, decreased the force of impact in a collision, and increased reaction times in the event of an emergency.
Local residents weren’t so sure. “I reckon it’s devastating, it takes you so much longer. You try and take every side road you can to get around it,” one road user told WIN News Gippsland.
“It’s driving us all mental, the whole town,” said another.
Other residents said they were unbothered by the lower limit and supported it.
Local community member Theo Zwetloot has taken to creating an online petition to have the speed limit restored from 80km/h to 100km/h. It had 586 signatures as of 27 May. The petition was endorsed by Nationals MP Melina Bath.
In 2024, 64 per cent of 7000 Victorians polled said potholes and poor road condition were the primary road safety issues for the state. That was up from 46 per cent when the RACV held the same survey in 2021.
The Victorian Government pledged $1 billion towards road maintenance in its latest budget, with 70 per cent committed to regional roads. Roads Minister Ros Spence promised to fix 200,000 pot-holes.
The pushback against poor road maintenance and lowered speed limits goes beyond Victoria. In October 2025, the federal government proposed reducing the national default speed limit from 100km/h to 90km/h, 80km/h or even 70km/h, on unsigned roads outside of built-up areas.
It said many roads in regional or remote areas were unsealed and in poor condition, and unsafe for travel at 100km/h. More than 11,000 public submissions were received in response, and in November 2025 the proposal was dropped.
Have you experienced a local speed limit being reduced? Has it made the road safer and do you support it, or has it proven unnecessary? Let us know in the comments below.
Dylan Campbell has been road-testing and writing about cars and the new-car industry since 2006. An independent motoring expert based in Melbourne, Dylan is a former Editor of Wheels Magazine, MOTOR Magazine and the TopGear Australia website.
