Fear of major crash on Great Ocean Road

Yet visitors who make the three-hour drive from Melbourne to the site are causing huge problems on the roads of south-west Victoria that some fear will soon result in a major fatal crash taking many lives.

There is a litany of examples of overseas visitors with little or no experience of our road rules or driving conditions causing chaos - and, at times, carnage - on country roads.

From the Hong Kong man who drove into the public bar of the Port Campbell Hotel, to overseas visitors stopping without warning in the middle of the Great Ocean Road for a selfie, the roads of south-west Victoria in particular have become a magnet for foreign visitors in rental cars.

There have also been extremely serious, life-threatening crashes involving overseas and interstate tourists. These visitors were involved in about a third of the accidents along the tourist route in recent years.

Between November 2014 and August 2019, there were 71 crashes on the Great Ocean Road in which someone was either killed or seriously injured.

In that time, there were four road deaths on the route and 83 people seriously injured and taken to hospital.

Two fatalities were recorded in the coastal area within seven days in December.

The long and winding Great Ocean Road starts just past Torquay on the Surf Coast and ends 247 kilometres later at Allansford, near Warrnambool.

The road was driven by 6.1 million international and domestic tourists in the year to March 2019.

Chinese visitors continue to lead the charge to Victoria, with almost 680,000 visitors in the past year.

Corangamite Shire councillor Simon Illingworth says international drivers are causing headaches for emergency service workers and business owners along the popular tourist route.

Cr Illingworth, whose shire takes in a 50km stretch of the route from before Princetown to Peterborough, is outspoken about the need for road upgrades, especially on loop roads that lead to the Great Ocean Road.

In communities along the iconic trail, people are "really bracing ourselves for a big crash taking multiple lives", he said.

He can give plenty of examples of poor behaviour by overseas visitors.

"A tourist drove the wrong way in a main street, parked his hire car blocking on-coming traffic and walked into a shop to purchase a coffee. Angry locals voiced their displeasure to no avail," he said.

"Another tourist parked on a main street footpath outside a restaurant. Cars are regularly parked on roadways or turning lanes for photo opportunities of koalas and other impromptu occasions."

Cr Illingworth said some tourists arrive after a 10 to 15-hour flight, immediately hire cars and drive straight to the Great Ocean Road, visit the Twelve Apostles, then drive back to Melbourne without a break.

"One tourist arrived at Melbourne Airport, hired a car and drove directly to Port Campbell where he drove the hire car through the side of the hotel and into the public bar," he said.

"He was so fatigued he forgot which pedal the brake was."

He said he didn't know if it was the tourists themselves or their travel agents setting such taxing itineraries.

"But it is apparent that many tourists concentrate on how many iconic sites they can visit, rather than having a relaxing trip," he said.

"This whirlwind 'bucket list' touring appears common and clearly pushes the boundaries for both personal health and road safety. It should be discouraged."

He said the loop roads exiting the Great Ocean Road were "not made for purpose and are in a distressed and broken state".

"Many locals have spent thousands on damaged wheel rims, tyres and front ends, and now ignore other road rules to avoid further damage."

School buses, agricultural trucks and tractors with machinery share the roads with an increasing flow of tourist buses, minivans and self-driven international tourists.

State and federal governments have committed $250,000 to a road safety education campaign, which will include signs translated and symbolised for non-English speaking visitors.

The 12-month campaign will include advertisements in service centres, on buses, and in displays at Avalon Airport. Materials will be distributed through vehicle rental companies and other tourism businesses.

The initiative is a partnership between the governments and Victoria Police, VicRoads, the Great Ocean Regional Tourism Board and the major car rental companies.

Tori Ziegelaar, the manager of Port Campbell's only petrol station, says some tourists have issues with driving on the left hand side of the road.

"They fill up and then leave the servo onto the wrong side. It's only when someone flashes them with their lights they realise," he said.

Mr Ziegelaar says car rental companies should place a sticker on the dashboard of every car reminding visitors to drive on the left in Australia.

"It would be lucky if it cost the rental companies 10 cents a sticker," he said.

He says the busiest period "by a mile" is around Chinese New Year, which usually falls in February.

"We've had incidents where there's a kilometre-long stretch of cars parked on both sides of the 12 Apostles lookout along the Great Ocean Road."

Dr Tim Baker, the director of the Centre for Rural Emergency Medicine, said driving in rural and regional areas is "a skill and it takes some practice".

"If you are from overseas or Melbourne you need to consider it a skill you do not necessarily have and you need to take extra care," Dr Baker said.

"We do get people who drive on the wrong side of the road" in the emergency department after a crash, he said.

"We still get a number of people who turn out of somewhere on the wrong side of the road, crash and are injured."

He said that, when international drivers arrive at his Warrnambool Base Hospital emergency department after a crash, there are often "huge language barriers".

"We have to use telephone interpreters," he said. "They are a long way from home and nothing feels worse than being terribly injured in another country. All their belongings are in the wrecked vehicle, they are left without clothes or a phone. Their relatives may be involved in the accident too."

Acting Sergeant Geoff Martinez of Colac police attended one of the two fatal crashes that occurred in a week in December. He said the Great Ocean Road was difficult to drive.

"It's windy, with different weather conditions, there's animals and other circumstances where things can go wrong. People aren't familiar with the road conditions. They can be daunting," he said.

"I've been doing this job for 30 years and it never gets any easier."