Australia’s Pothole Plague: A Costly and Dangerous Road Crisis
Drivers across Australia are grappling with a widespread and increasingly dangerous pothole crisis. Crumbling roads and neglected streets are not just an inconvenience; they are becoming a costly death trap, inflicting thousands of dollars in damage on vehicles and posing serious risks to motorists.
A comprehensive survey revealed that nearly 40 per cent of readers consider poorly maintained roads their primary frustration with their local area. However, for Australians living in rural regions, the situation is significantly more dire, with a staggering 79 per cent identifying potholes as a chronic and dangerous issue.
Tales of Near Misses and Costly Repairs
The perils of these neglected roadways are starkly illustrated by the harrowing experience of Melbourne motorbike rider Simoen van der Meent. While travelling at 80km/h down Murray River Road in north-eastern Victoria, a section of road ahead of her transformed into a lunar landscape of craters. “It was really bad, because we had suffered a lot of rain, that bit of road was terrible,” van der Meent recounted. “By the time I saw the holes, it was too late. I just bounced around like crazy, lost control of the bike and went flying across the opposite side of the road. If there had been oncoming cars, I could have died.”
Miraculously, van der Meent escaped serious injury. However, her experience serves as a chilling reminder of the risks involved. A fellow rider in her group wasn’t as fortunate, ending up in intensive care in a coma and requiring a week-long hospital stay for recovery. While van der Meent walked away physically unharmed, her vintage Harley Davidson suffered approximately $10,000 in damage, requiring the replacement of rare collector’s parts. She has lodged a claim with VicRoads but is still awaiting a response months later.
The problem is not isolated to motorbikes. Drivers in Victoria, which is experiencing some of Australia’s most severe pothole issues, are regularly facing hefty repair bills. Tabitha Triplet, a resident of Wodonga, has had her car’s tyres repeatedly shredded by metre-long potholes on the Murray Valley Highway in northern Victoria. Over the past 18 months, she has spent around $3,400 on repairs for her vehicle, a substantial sum considering her registration costs. “There are some I am aware of that I know to dodge, which are larger than one of my tyres, and on a 100 kilometre roadway… so I can only imagine what would happen if you didn’t know about it and hit it,” Triplet stated. “My vehicle shouldn’t sustain any damage from a public road. I have paid more in damages than rego. What’s my rego being used for and why should I pay it?”
Another Victorian driver, Andrew Reilly, incurred $3,000 in damages to his car after hitting a pothole on the Hume Freeway near Tallarook, which damaged his tyre, rim, and suspension. He was travelling at 110km/h when the incident occurred. Reilly’s experience with the claims process was also frustrating, with Vic Roads taking over a year to process his claim, ultimately returning only $900. Under Victorian law, there’s a mandatory property damage threshold of $1,681 for damage caused by hazards like potholes. Claims below this amount are the responsibility of the motorist, and even for larger claims, waiting lists can stretch for months. In response to the escalating crisis, the Victorian government recently allocated over $1 billion to a road repair fund.
A Nationwide Problem
However, the pothole epidemic is far from confined to Victoria. Data from the smart city app Snap Send Solve, which allows users to report local issues to councils, paints a grim national picture. In the 12 months leading up to March 2026, the app recorded nearly 95,000 reports of potholes and damaged roads across Australia, a significant 31 per cent increase from the previous year.
Victoria leads the nation with the highest number of reports, logging 33,115. New South Wales followed with 22,291 reports, and Queensland ranked third with 19,441.
While metropolitan areas generate a substantial number of reports, the dissatisfaction in regional areas is growing. In the Northern Territory, road defect reports more than doubled during the same 12-month period.
Danny Gorog, CEO of Snap Send Solve, attributes the surge in potholes to a combination of factors. “More people are driving, the weather conditions are getting more challenging,” he explained, noting that major flood events and prolonged periods of rain exacerbate the problem. Furthermore, he suggests that increased driver awareness of vehicle damage and a greater focus on road conditions contribute to the rising number of reports.
Blame Game: Trucks and Slow Councils
Residents are pointing fingers at various culprits, including heavy vehicle traffic and what they perceive as slow responses from local councils. Dee, a NSW resident who frequently travels to her holiday home in Stuarts. Point on the Mid North Coast, described the road near her property as “shocking.” She claims that trucks “roaring” down the avenue have significantly degraded the asphalt, creating dangerous potholes. “The council very rarely fixes the holes, and the issue that we have is the whole place basically shakes because the roads are so dodgy,” Dee said. “People have done renovations, and their windows have broken… the amount of damage done by the potholes is ridiculous.”
Despite these frustrations, Gorog notes that councils are generally responding to complaints, with a steadily growing rate of “solved” pothole reports, currently standing at approximately 89 per cent. He stresses the importance of drivers reporting road issues promptly, stating, “And if the council doesn’t know, they can never be fixed.”
