Anyone who has travelled up the Hume Highway will know that once you are out of Melbourne the speed limit is 110km/h.

The same goes for much of the Princes Highway east of Melbourne as it travels through Gippsland towards the Latrobe Valley and also large parts of the Western Highway between Melbourne and Ballarat.

But on the excellent road between Geelong and Melbourne, drivers are obliged to sit on 100. Why?

The RACV has lobbied for years to get the speed limit increased but has faced opposition from police and road safety experts.

The organisation has backed the speed plan and said it should be 110km/h from Werribee through to Torquay along the new ring road, arguing it would save motorists 20 minutes each way.

It is understood that state transport minister Terry Mulder has had talks with Victoria’s top police officers and the Transport Accident Commission about the plan, although both were said to have been against the move.

Mr Mulder can expect some opposition if he proceeds with the plan, especially as this year’s state road toll is higher than last year’s.

Monash University Accident Research Centre chief Max Cameron said it would be safer to keep the speed limit the same because an increase would result in extra fatal crash every four years.

Cynics would say that Mr Mulder is moving to increase the speed limit because it would be popular with voters in his electorate of Polwarth, but he has not indicated which way he will jump.

Mr Mulder may well be courting voters, but the fact is the stretch of highway under consideration is just as safe — if not safer — than those highways that have a speed limit of 110km/h.

Why is it acceptable on those roads, but not on this one?

If 110km/h is deemed too fast on the Geelong road then surely it is too fast on the others too.