Lives will be lost unless urgent changes made to Great Ocean Road tourist route, says councillor

Former police officer Simon Illingworth called for urgent changes after a bus towing a trailer rolled north of Simpson on Sunday, leading to a number of Chinese nationals being hospitalised.

"It's not if there's another major bus crash, it's when and the only question is how many people will die," Cr Illingworth said.

"It is inevitable. Thankfully on Sunday there were only minor injuries, but we need to heed the warning."

Port Campbell police Senior Constable Scott Thompson said the accident occurred about 2.30pm on Sunday afternoon two kilometres north of Simpson on the Cobden-Lavers Hill Road.

He said the driver of the bus lost control in wet conditions.

"The driver was heading north and had rounded a left-hand bend when he veered onto the wrong side of the road," Senior Constable Thompson said.

"He's travelled about 60 metres on the grass edge, clipping small trees. It appears he's slowed down enough to attempt to cross back onto the correct side of the road, but the bus has gone into a slide, spun 180 degrees, rolled and finished up facing south."

Residents who use the stretch of road say there have been a number of near misses at that spot.

Denise Robbins said her partner Shane Ayres had the roll bar on his Toyota Landcruiser Troopcarrier to thank for his narrow escape.

Mr Ayres rolled his four-wheel-drive at the same spot in August last year.

"The road is that shiny and slippery," Ms Robbins said.

"Shane was going to Colac at 5am in the morning to pick up our daughter, who had had a car accident.

"He rang me 10 minutes after he left and said he just came around the corner and lost control."

Ms Robbins said it was a road her partner had driven countless times before and one that many motorists have raised concerns about.

"It needs to be resheeted or something - it's dangerous," she said.

Cr Illingworth said the roads being used to travel from Melbourne to Port Campbell were not designed as a major tourist route, with sign posted speed advisories as low as 20km/h.

He called for two designated routes - from the Twelve Apostles and Port Campbell - back to Colac.

"Ultimately we need to dumb the roads down and make it as simple as possible for tourists to return to the city," he said.

"We have to remove the decision-making requirements for drivers and make those return routes priority roads, similar to highways.

"There have to be less intersections and some intersections need to be altered, not just in Corangamite, but also at Birregurra, from Lorne and Apollo Bay."

Mr Illingworth said the GOR was being marketed as an international destination.

"And it is, but surely visitors should have some expectation of getting home alive," he said.

"The loops back to the Princes Highway are hell driving on the back of a five to six-hour drive on the wrong side of the road for many visitors.

"We are dealing with tired, jet-lagged inexperienced international tourists and we are giving them an off-road driving test to get back to Melbourne."

The councillor said he feared it would take another major crash to spark charge.

In April 2017 one person died and eight were injured after a bus carrying Taiwasese national crashed near Apollo Bay.

During July 2014 a woman died and a man was critically injured after a bus carrying Korean nationals was involved in an accident near Princetown.

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He said there were multiple factors at play with the GOR marketed as a day-trip, with international agencies pushing taking in the tourist route and then doing the Phillip Island penguin parade on the same day.

"There also needs to be an awareness of the reduced daylight hours in winter where we see drivers speeding between Apollo Bay and the Twelve Apostles as darkness closes in," he said.

"We're seeing tourists doing U-turns on those roads back to Colac because they can't believe those are the main routes back to Melbourne.

"Tourists have an expectation about the roads they will be driving on and we simply are not meeting those expectations," he said.

South-west police road safety adviser Senior Sergeant Chris Asenjo said there were a number of opportunities from when someone booked their holiday to provide accurate information about a GOR trip - at a travel agency, airports, on flights, through tourism operators and when hiring a car.

"It's very complex issue with many stakeholder but there is also a chain of responsibilities," he said.

"We have an opportunity to provide clear messaging and information about the risks on our road."

Senior Sergeant Asenjo suggested it should be mandatory to provide information about the risks of driving the GOR.

He said drivers needed to be aware of the risks associated with long distance, especially fatigue which could be associated with jet-lag.

"The tourism industry is worth billion of dollars. Should there be a tourism fees and levies which go directly into road safety?" he said.

"The problem is the GOR should be a dual carriageway with a median strip but it never will be so have have to look at other alternatives," he said.

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