Perilous potholes

by Aidan Knight
If there's a hole in the road, there'll likely be a hole in your wallet.
This was the experience many motorists faced yesterday morning on the Princes Fwy at Bunyip and Nar Nar Goon.
At least 19 cars lined the eastbound stretch of road adjacent to the Nar Nar Goon Shell service station between 8am and 9am. The carnage was mirrored in the westbound lane at Bunyip near A'beckett Rd.
Hallora local, Evan, saw the damage at 6am while driving towards Melbourne, and chose to turn around at Pakenham to assist motorists with punctured tyres at Nar Nar Goon. He provided assistance consistently for a steady stream of damaged vehicles until 8:35am, by which time police had blocked the left lane about one kilometre ahead of the hotspot.
"If my mum or sister were stuck on the side of the road I'd want to help them," he said.
One of the distressed drivers was Altona resident Gladys Rebucas, who was on her way to Metung for her first holiday. Driving in a second-hand car she had owned for only three weeks, Ms Rebucas' vehicle sustained heavy punctures to both left hand tyres on her Honda Accord.

"We just couldn't see it coming,," she said of the pothole. "We don't know what time we'll get out of here, and where we'll be towed to."

Member for Narracan Wayne Farnham was on the scene, having made his way along the freeway to provide assistance.
It was Mr Farnham who informed Ms Rebucas that there would likely be an excess required by her insurer, meaning motorists could face out-of-pocket costs even if they were comprehensively insured.
Both sections of road were known to have previous pothole problems, with the Nar Nar Goon portion making headlines in November last year for cracking and bending rims of close to 30 vehicles, some of which also experienced broken suspension components.
The Bunyip section was similarly damaging less than a month ago.
Mr Farnham said it was a face-value display of the State Government's inability to maintain assets.
"At the end of the day it's the everyday person who pays the price. Not only are they late for work or the school drop-off, they're going to pay for the tyres, pay excesses on insurances that they wouldn't have to otherwise. The same spot as last year, same amount of cars," he said.
Mr Farnham was particularly critical of the money funnelled into building tunnels instead of maintaining the roads that service them.
The Department of Transport late yesterday stated "our crews have finished making emergency repairs to the Princes Freeway near Bunyip, following reports of road damage caused by heavy rainfall."
No update was provided on the Nar Nar Goon section. The DTP said it was currently putting together a maintenance program as part of the 2026/27 budget investment of $1.04 billion towards road maintenance across the state.
DTP encouraged road users to report any concerns about the network by calling 13 11 70, and anyone who believed they may be entitled to compensation should follow the Notice of Incident and Claim process at: https://www.vic.gov.au/notice-incident-and-claim