The 33-year-old Talbot man died when he lost control of his north-bound vehicle on the Ballarat-Maryborough Rd, 300m north of the Ballarat Rd, at 10.20pm.

Police believe the vehicle careered down an embankment and rolled several times.

Maryborough Police Sergeant Michael Wentworth yesterday said the man was believed to be travelling home at the time of the crash.

Sgt Wentworth said the accident took place less than 2km from where the man lived.

Sgt Wentworth said it appeared the driver was thrown from the vehicle after its detachable fibreglass roof came off during the accident.

There was no-one else in the vehicle at the time of the accident.

Police are yet to release the name of the deceased.

The fatality takes the state's road toll to 299, 11 more than at the same time last year.

The accident comes just a month after police figures showed fatal crashes in the Ballarat area had almost halved in the past year.

The figures showed a 45 per cent decrease in fatal crashes on the region's roads in the year ending June 30, compared with the previous year.

The number of fatal crashes had dropped from 24 in 2003-04 to 13 in 2004-05.

The figures also showed a 14.3 per cent reduction in collisions that resulted in injury, while non-injury crashes rose 3.1 per cent.