A man died after the van he was driving struck the rear-end of a truck on Victoria Street in Ballarat East about 1pm on Monday afternoon.

Despite attempts to resuscitate him, the man died soon after being pulled from the van.

The man was the sole occupant of the van.

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The fatality was the first in Ballarat and the surrounding areas this year.

The driver of the truck, a 59-year-old Derrimut man, was not injured and police at the scene said they are appealing for dash-cam footage.

"We're investigating whether a medical episode contributed to the cause of the collision, however that is still under investigation," Ballarat Highway Patrol's Sergeant David Whitwell said.

"The truck driver remained at the scene and is assisting police with enquiries, he'll be interviewed at a later stage as a potential witness.

"That's part of our normal process, there's no indication at this stage of any fault or culpability on his part."

He added the coroner will be investigating the cause of the crash.

The scene was quickly cleared, with a notification about Victoria Street reopening to Melbourne-bound traffic sent at 3.36pm.

Any witnesses, anyone with dashcam or any other information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report online at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.

The incident comes just days after the state government released the findings from its parliamentary inquiry into the increase in Victoria's road toll which found the Victorian road toll could be cut to less than 200 annually.

The inquiry was established in 2019 to to investigate the increase in Victoria's road toll after decades of steady decline.

The Legislative Council's Economy and Infrastructure Committee made 36 recommendations as part of the inquiry.

Recommendations included an annually reported star rating for the standard of significant roads, wider deployment of variable speed limits, and advocacy for the federal government's luxury car tax to be abolished.

In an inquiry which heard from 70 witnesses and received more than 150 submissions, the committee found that while Victoria failed to reach the targets set out in the Towards Zero road safety strategy, they were still achievable.

Committee chair, southern metropolitan MP Enver Erdogan said a plateau in road toll was a common phenomenal around the world.

"This suggests previous reforms have achieved all they can and it's time for a fresh push to reduce road trauma even further," he said.

"A star safety rating for roads exists, with one-star being the least safe and five-star being the safest. Research suggests fatalities and serious injuries are halved for each incremental improvement to a road's condition.

"The government should undertake and publish research to determine the cost and timeframe of making all highways, arterial roads and other roads of significance in Victoria a minimum three-star rating. This will give the Victorian community a better understanding of the roads they are driving on."

Ballarat and Moorabool Highway Patrol Senior Sergeant Stuart Gale said numerous factors contributed to the road toll.

"Speed, distraction, fatigue, inattention, they're all big contributing factors and factors we look at when we're investigating these fatalities," he said.

"Just because there is a default speed, drivers still need to drive at appropriate speeds. That might have environmental factors whether it's a sealed road or a gravel road or whether it be weather affected, there are so many factors that are involved that it's not funny.

"Just because a road is signposted at a certain speed, doesn't mean you have to drive at that speed."

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