The state government has been called on to allocate more funding for rural and regional roads instead of reducing the speed limit on areas deemed a high crash risk.
An inquiry into Victorian regional and rural roads made the recommendation, which has been supported by the state government, to reduce the speed limit on some regional highways from 110 kilometres an hour to 80km/h.
The government believes lowering speed limits in a last case scenario will support the Victorian Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030, which aims to half road deaths and reduce serious injuries by 2030, and to have zero road deaths by 2050.
Farmers and regional road users are now making personal pleas to fix the state's deteriorated road surface.
Bulgana farmer Kris McMillan lost her husband and daughter to a car crash on the Western Highway five years ago, and told the Victorian Country Hour holes in the road near Beaufort contributed to the accident.
"The drawbar caused it, which came across in the coroners report, that due to the state of the road it was more than likely the cause of the drawbar breaking on the trailer," Ms McMillan said.
"Nothing has been done and the road is in the same state that my family died.
"Governments spend all the road funding in Melbourne and rural areas are totally ignored.
"I'd like to see more of the freight back on the rail and get these huge, big trucks off the roads because most of the roads in western Victoria are not made to carry the weight and shear volume of the trucks."
Shadow Agriculture Minister Peter Walsh slammed the decision, labelling it a "band-aid fix" to regional roads that needed urgent maintenance.
Mr Walsh said the government had "cut funding to the bone", with a 25 per cent reduction in the current budget period alone.
He said Victoria had allocated a mere $20 million a year to "slap a band-aid across them", compared to NSW's annual $500 million fund to maintain and replace their bridge infrastructure.
"Labor's lazy policy amounts to nothing more than a scandalous act of sticking their head in the sand and ignoring the issue," he said.
"Disappointingly, there is now a very real concern that Victoria's crumbling road network is risking the lives of freighters and commuters."
He said the overrun costs on the West Gate Tunnel and Melbourne Metro projects, which sits at about $6 billion, could have built hundreds of kilometres of roads in regional Victoria.
"If I factor in the cost over-runs on all major projects in Melbourne, that cost blows out to a waste of $23 billion taxpayer dollars. That money could revolutionise our road network," he said.
In a statement, a government spokesperson said unlike the former Liberal Nationals Government, whose road maintenance budget was slashed to $388 million in 2012/13, the State Government had increased the road maintenance budget.
"A bipartisan parliamentary inquiry into the road toll recommended the speed limit on all rural and regional roads undergo a review - including support from a Liberal member and the Transport Matters Party. The proof is in the process - even the minority report identified there may be circumstances where speed changes are required," they said.