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Rachel Welsh’s car was cruising up the Hume Freeway, packed with five teenagers, when she felt a massive jolt and her tyre popped.
“I’ve never encountered a pothole like this in my life,” Welsh said of the crater that she estimates was three metres wide and stretched across the entire left-hand lane.
Tucked in behind a truck, the St Kilda East mother saw the pothole, but was powerless to prevent the impact.
“I was boxed in… So I just rode the pothole,” she said.
Welsh pulled her Mercedes V250d to the side of the road, just north of Seymour, and she wasn’t alone for long.
“There was one person pulled over behind us who changed their tyre and moved on, then there was another [motorist] who pulled over in front of us immediately afterwards, and then a van came in behind us, all of which had their tyres popped,” Welsh said.
After she saw a fourth vehicle pull over, Welsh called police: “There was going to be an accident.”
Police swiftly closed off the lane, and the pothole was repaired with no serious injuries reported.
It’s the second time this week drivers on the Hume have encountered potholes big enough to cause tyre damage.
On Tuesday, local MP Annabelle Cleeland warned her community that a pothole northbound on the freeway near the Tallarook turnoff, south of Seymour, damaged the tyres of around six vehicles.
Further west, another opposition MP, Wendy Lovell, said she had “reports of drivers feeling unsafe on the Calder Freeway around the Taradale area as they dodge the many significant potholes” that had been exacerbated by heavy rain.
Performance measures in May’s state budget set a target of patching 74,000 square metres of roads in regional Victoria in 2026-27, compared to 95,000 square metres expected to be completed by the financial year that just ended.
Patching, which involves filling potholes and cracks with bitumen mixes and compacting them down to provide a quick improvement to road quality, has been criticised as a short-term measure.
The Department of Transport and Planning has said it’s now focusing more heavily on longer-lasting treatments such as resurfacing.
The budget papers show 2.7 square kilometres of road area are scheduled to be resurfaced or rehabilitated outside Melbourne in 2026-27.
Welsh said she was shaken by the mishap and “didn’t even want to think about” how much repairs would cost.
“As parents, you’ve just got to keep it light, haven’t you?” she said. “They’ll be OK, it’s all an adventure for them.”
Welsh had her car towed to Seymour and the tyre changed before continuing with her trip to visit her mother in New South Wales.
In Victoria, the Department of Transport and Planning is liable for any damage to vehicles caused by the roads it maintains, provided the cost of that damage is more than $1681.
People can lodge notice of incident and claim forms if they feel the government is liable, and can request a review if they disagree with the resulting assessment.
Last June, a section of the Princes Freeway near Werribee damaged four cars and a truck after a metal plate came loose and exposed road spikes underneath to vehicles commuting into Melbourne during the morning peak.
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