Reason behind Victoria's staggering road toll revealed as number nears 300 deaths

The reason behind Victoria's staggering road toll has been revealed as deaths reach a 15-year high.

The Transport Accident Commission (TAC) revealed today that one in five people who were killed on the roads weren't wearing seatbelts, a trend that has been on the rise in Victoria.

Authorities fear the state's road toll will climb to 300 as they pull desperate tactics to keep the number at 296 - a statistic not seen since 2008.

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Speed, drugs and alcohol have also been blamed for this year's high death toll, with the TAC's Samantha Cockfield telling 9News many of the deaths could have been avoided.

"This is the highest number in 15 years and it looks like we might be heading for 300," she said.

"We're looking at about 20 to 25 per cent of drivers and passengers not having worn their seat belts according to police data.

"Most of these people would have survived that crash had they had their seatbelt on."

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As the state enters the final few days of 2023, motorists on dozens of country roads will have access to driver reviver vans this weekend.

The vans have been introduced to address fatigue in drivers, but only go so far.

Bad driver behaviour was an issue picked up by the state's new artificial intelligence road safety cameras this year, with more than 1800 drivers and passengers snapped without seat belts.

Victorian Roads Minister Melissa Horne said offenders would cop hefty fines and lose demerit points, and said the government was open to cutting speed limits.

"We're slowly increasing the number of (speed cameras) and they are picking up some really abhorrent behaviour," she said.