Police urge caution amid deadly road toll

Startlingly, that number is over 10 per cent greater than the number of lives lost in the state across the same period in 2024.

Cobram highway patrol Sergeant William ‘Bill’ Dockrey said he would like to say he was surprised by the grim statistic — a number that, more than anything, he would like to see stop at zero.

“I’d like to say I am surprised because I would hope the message will be received more clearly,” he said.

“But it’s obviously not. We’ll have to look further at how we can get the message to sink in with the community.”

In the Moira Shire, two people — one a pedestrian, the other a driver — have lost their lives this year.

With temperatures plunging to sub-zero over recent weeks, and heavy morning fogs rolling across the district, the message to drivers is clear.

“Drive to the speed limit. Drive to the conditions. Don’t drive when you’re fatigued,” Sgt Dockrey said.

“These are all things that we ask our teenagers to do. People seem to have an expectation that they can just let those basic skills slip away.”

In the early hours of Monday morning, a 31-year-old man escaped with his life after his vehicle collided with a tree near Kotupna.

Paramedics treated the man at the scene for upper and lower body injuries.

He was transported by road to GV Health before being taken to The Alfred in Melbourne in a serious but stable condition.

Cobram police unit Sen Sgt Nathan Ractliffe said the most important thing for road users to remember was to drive to the conditions.

“If it is foggy, you need to drive to the conditions and make sure you’re not going too fast and missing bends,” he said.

“Make sure you have your fog lights on and are leaving enough distance in front to see any hazards or other road users.”