POLICE are urging drivers to take extra care on the roads with the current wet weather.
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While anyone driving on the roads should only be doing so for essential reasons - for food and supplies, medical care and care giving, exercise and work or education - in line with the restrictions in place to limit the spread of coronavirus, those who are out are urged to take extra care due to the weather conditions this week.
According to Bureau of Meteorology figures, Ballarat has received almost five times the amount of rain so far this year, compared to last year.
Comparing the amount of rainfall recorded in April alone to that recorded last year, the figures are almost double.
Acting Inspector Ben Young said with the wet weather forecast to continue for a number of days, police urged community members to take the weather into consideration when they get behind the wheel.
He said speed limits were applied to roads for the best possible conditions, so it was important for people to take other circumstances such as reduced visibility into consideration and to slow down to a safer speed.
We are really asking people to make sure they are driving to the conditions.
- Acting Inspector Ben Young
Wet weather not only decreases visibility but it also changes road surfaces - making them more slippery.
Unsealed roads are also impacted by wet weather, with standing water and increasing ripples in the road surface.
"We need people therefore to slow down and to allow longer and greater stopping distances between themselves and other vehicles, because vehicles will take longer to stop on wet roads with wet tyres and wet brakes," Acting Inspector Young said.
He urged people to plan their trips and to allow for the fact that driving, such as to work, might be impacted by the weather.
"Allow for the fact that it might take longer to travel to places than it normally does. So leave early, so you're not in a rush to get there on time," he said.
It's also important to complete a safety check on a vehicle - that windscreen wipers, tyres and brakes are all working well, so that the vehicle is in the best condition to drive on the road, given that the road conditions have deteriorated from what they have been over summer.
While there have generally been less people on roads around the region due to social distancing requirements, the number of lives lost on Victorian roads so far this year stands at 82.
On Wednesday evening, a driver of a ute was killed after a crash with a truck on the Western Highway, near the Churchill Crossing Road at Great Western.
After the two vehicles collided, a second truck then crashed into the incident scene.
This is compared to 98 last year.
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