Upon completion of the bypass, motorists will be able to travel from Melbourne to Sydney on a dual carriageway without passing through towns.

Shelagh Merlin, Road Safety Officer for Urana, Lockhart and Greater Hume Shire said that despite this, she would be very cautious about the speed limit being raised and in her view there was no need for the increase.

In Greater Hume Shire statistics from 2006 to 2010, a staggering 83 percent of road crashes occurred on roads with speed limits of 100 kilometres or more per hour.

Of this 83 percent, five percent resulted in fatalities and 44 percent in injury - compared to just three percent in areas where speed zones ranged from 40 to 90 km/h.

“Around 80 percent of the crashes that I look into occur at high speeds of between 100 and 150 km/h,” Ms Merlin said, “There are a whole range of reasons why it is not a good idea. An increase like this

could possibly lead to more crashes.

“Road conditions can and do vary regularly regardless of what road it is. The onus is always on the driver to drive to the prevailing conditions, which may well mean driving well below the posted speed limit,” she added.

An increase in speed from 110 to 130 km/h would make the difference between the top speed for learners and fully licensed drivers 50km/h.

Holbrook truck driver, Ivan Ling believes that a speed limit this high would encourage people to push the boundaries more.

“If people were going to do the right thing it would be fine, but not everyone will,” he said.

Mr Ling added that fatigue could become a big problem with the highway bypassing all the towns and that it would be more dangerous with higher speeds.

“Truck drivers are required to stop, we have to log our drives, no other drivers have to do that,” he said.