Road Management Act 2004

Transport for Victoria (as State road authority) manages arterial roads, declared roads, and toll roads (with modifications). It holds the master register of public roads and coordinates with local councils.

Local councils are road authorities responsible for local roads and non-arterial roads in their municipalities.

Infrastructure managers (utilities: water, electricity, gas, telecommunications) that have assets in road reserves must coordinate with road authorities when carrying out works.

Works managers and contractors carrying out road works must comply with the Act's framework for coordinating those works.

Private toll road corporations (CityLink, EastLink, Peninsula Link Freeway Corporation, West Gate Tunnel Corporation, North East Link State Tolling Corporation) are brought within the Act's framework with tailored provisions in sections 133-134I.

Road users have a right of passage on public roads (section 8) and the rights of adjoining landowners and the general public are defined in sections 9-10.

Persons injured by road defects can claim against road authorities but subject to the Part 6 limitations on liability.

Section 40 (Duty to inspect and maintain): Road authorities have a duty to inspect public roads, carry out maintenance and repair works, and remove hazards. This is the primary positive duty from which liability flows.

Section 19: Coordinating road authorities must keep and maintain a register of public roads, updated as required.

Section 115 (Notice of incident): A person who suffers injury or loss arising from a road condition must give written notice to the relevant road authority within the period prescribed by regulation. Failure to give notice does not defeat the claim but the road authority may use lack of notice in mitigation.

Section 52 (Road management plans): Road authorities are required to develop and implement road management plans in accordance with Codes of Practice.

Part 5 (Infrastructure and works): Infrastructure managers and works managers must comply with specific duties when placing infrastructure or carrying out works on road reserves, including consultation, reinstatement, and compensation obligations.

Road declarations (sections 11-14): The Minister or Head of Transport for Victoria may declare and name roads, discontinue roads, and declare arterial roads.

Codes of Practice (sections 24-30): The Minister may make Codes of Practice setting practical guidance. Codes are disallowable instruments (section 30) and may be used as evidence of reasonableness in proceedings (section 27).

Coordinating road authority functions (section 35): Road authorities have broad powers to carry out road management functions, including constructing, managing, maintaining, and repairing public roads and road infrastructure.

Policy determination (section 39): Road authorities may determine policies for exercising their functions. A policy defence is available under section 103 (below).

Authorised officers (sections 71ff): Authorised officers appointed for the Act have broad enforcement powers.

Minister's directions (section 22): Ministers may give directions to road authorities about their functions.

Infrastructure coordination (Schedule 7): Detailed provisions for authorisation, licensing, and coordination of infrastructure works on roads.

The Act does not primarily create criminal offences. Its enforcement framework operates through civil liability, regulatory requirements, and administrative directions.

Schedule 8 specifies road management infringements, which are penalty notice offences with prescribed amounts.

Road authorities that fail to perform the duty to inspect and maintain under section 40 are exposed to civil liability (subject to Part 6 limitations).

Section 112: Road authorities have a right to recover costs from a person who damages a road.

Section 113: Owners or occupiers of adjoining land who cause damage to a road may be liable to the road authority.

Road management plans: Must be adopted and updated in accordance with Codes of Practice. Local councils must consult before adopting plans.

Section 115 (Notice of incident): Regulations prescribe the notice period. The notice of incident requirement gives road authorities an opportunity to inspect and document the road condition before a claim is made.

Conditional approval processes (Schedule 7): For placing infrastructure in road reserves, approval timelines are set out in Schedule 7.

Codes of Practice: Made by the Minister, tabled in Parliament, subject to disallowance within a specified period (section 30).

Transport Integration Act 2010 (Vic): Section 5A makes the Transport Integration Act 2010 paramount for transport planning purposes. Road management functions must be consistent with transport system objectives under that Act.

Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic): Section 101 directs courts to have regard to the principles in section 83 of the Wrongs Act when assessing duty of care in road management. However, certain toll road corporations are excluded from this reference (sections 101(2)-(7)).

Local Government Act 1989 (Vic): Local councils' road management functions are linked to their general local government powers. The Act modifies and supplements councils' roles.

EastLink Project Act 2004, West Gate Tunnel Act 2017, North East Link Act 2020: These project-specific Acts bring major private toll roads within the Act's framework with tailored modifications (sections 133-134I).

Filming Approval Act 2014 (Vic): Section 5B preserves the operation of this Act in relation to filming on roads.

Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984 (Vic): Governs interpretation of the Act in accordance with Victorian standard rules.

Section 102 does not create blanket immunity. Road authorities are not liable for failure to remove hazards or repair defects unless they had actual knowledge of the particular risk. However, section 102(4) preserves liability for breach of the duty to inspect under section 40. A road authority that fails to inspect regularly cannot rely on section 102(1) to escape liability if its failure to inspect is itself the negligent act.

Actual knowledge is constructive in some cases. Under section 102(3), if the deterioration was reported in writing to the road authority under section 115, the road authority is taken to have had actual knowledge. A road authority that receives a formal condition report under section 115 loses the protection of section 102(1) for the specific risk reported.

The notice of incident requirement (section 115) is procedural but important. Failure to notify does not defeat a claim but can be used by the road authority in mitigation. Claimants and their lawyers must check the regulatory notice period and serve notice promptly.

The policy defence (section 103) is limited. A policy that is so unreasonable that no road authority acting reasonably could have made it does not attract the policy defence. High and unusual risks may fall outside the policy shield even where a road management plan appears compliant.

Private toll road operators have modified liability rules. Sections 101(2)-(7) disapply the Wrongs Act 1958 s 83 reference for named toll road corporations. Lawyers suing in relation to toll road incidents must identify which Act governs the operator and whether modified liability rules apply.

Leichhardt Municipal Council v Montgomery [2007] HCA 6 was decided under the Roads Act 1993 (NSW). The Road Management Act 2004 (Vic) s 102 is only mentioned in a comparative footnote (para 267). The Victorian liability regime is distinct from NSW and practitioners must apply the Victorian Act on its own terms.

Example 1: Pothole claim in Melbourne. A cyclist is injured by a pothole on a local road in Melbourne. They sue the local council as responsible road authority. Under section 102(1), the council is not liable for failure to repair the defect unless it had actual knowledge of the particular risk. If the pothole had been reported in writing to the council under section 115, section 102(3) deems the council to have had actual knowledge. If no written report was made, the council's actual knowledge must be proven from other evidence.

Example 2: Infrastructure works. A water utility plans to lay a new water main along an arterial road managed by Transport for Victoria. The utility is an infrastructure manager under the Act. It must comply with Schedule 7 requirements for coordination, approval, and reinstatement. Road management plan provisions may set conditions for access timing and reinstatement standards.

Example 3: Arterial road discontinuance. The Head of Transport for Victoria wishes to discontinue a short section of arterial road for a road project. The power to discontinue roads is in section 12. Affected landowners and adjoining owners have rights that must be considered in the discontinuance process.

Example 4: Policy defence. A road authority decides by formal policy that it will not inspect certain minor roads more frequently than once every three years due to resource constraints. A person is injured after a road surface failure on one of those roads. Under section 103(b), acts or omissions in accordance with the road authority's policy do not constitute a wrongful exercise unless the policy is so unreasonable that no road authority acting reasonably could have made it. The reasonableness of the three-year inspection cycle for roads of that character would be assessed by the court.