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August 22, 2026 \u2014 7:50pm<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n When Bikram Dangol\u2019s daughter asks where he is, her family point to the sky. Her dad is the brightest star, the young girl is told.<\/p>\n But her mother, Bina Rajthala, still struggles with her husband\u2019s death in a motorcycle crash eight years ago, when their child was just a few months old.<\/p>\n In April, coroner Kate Despot finally released her finding into the death: authorities had \u201cmissed opportunities\u201d to fix a water leak that might have mitigated the risk of a crash.<\/p>\n Six different organisations knew about the problem, some for months, but the coroner found \u201cnothing constructive occurred until after the fatal collision\u201d on the busy M80 off-ramp at Laverton North on July 26, 2018.<\/p>\n Despot questioned whether the hazard would ever have been fixed had the crash not happened, noting the \u201cabsurdity of the situation in which this issue was \u2018handballed\u2019 between various companies and entities\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cEven after the collision occurred, there were arguments between [Greater Western Water] and other entities about the ownership of the water assets in question,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cI note that the issue was rectified the same day as the collision, so it is evident that it was not a particular[ly] onerous or complex task.\u201d<\/p>\n Rajthala says: \u201cIf steps had been taken on time \u2026 things would have been different, and he might be here with me.\u201d<\/p>\n The rider<\/p>\n Bikram Dangol was born in Nepal and moved to Melbourne in 2007 for university. He settled in Williams Landing after meeting his wife.<\/p>\n \u201cBikram was full of life,\u201d Rajthala says. \u201cHe was adventurous \u2026 caring. He was a family person.\u201d<\/p>\n Dangol worked as a welder in Campbellfield. The 30-year-old was riding home from a shift just after midnight when he reached the end of the Western Ring Road and joined the M1 on-ramp towards Geelong.<\/p>\n The warnings<\/p>\n According to the coroner\u2019s finding, on that bend two months before, Mark Kelly noticed the ground was soaking wet.<\/p>\n Winslow Construction\u2019s safety co-ordinator had just started work on Dohertys Road nearby and figured a main was leaking, so he called Greater Western Water (then City West Water) on May 10.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Eventually, a worker turned up but concluded on June 7 the leak was not coming from a water authority asset. The water authority employee contacted VicRoads about the issue, but couldn\u2019t find the right person to speak with.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, police officer Sergeant Timothy Noisette drove past and \u201cencountered an unexpected patch of water on the road which caused his motorcycle to lose traction\u201d. He reported it to Greater Western Water (GWW) on July 4, but received no response.<\/p>\n As part of road upgrades throughout July, workers reported problems painting new markings and blacking out redundant lines \u201cdue to water running across the road\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Kelly kept raising \u201cserious safety concerns for motorists\u201d and complained to the energy and water ombudsman about Greater Western Water\u2019s response.<\/p>\n \u201cAt night … the water was running across the road,\u201d Kelly says. \u201cBut during the day, it would dry out with the sun and the cars constantly running over it, so it wasn\u2019t as obvious.\u201d<\/p>\n Kelly remembers hearing about the crash on early morning radio \u201clike it was yesterday\u201d and calls it \u201centirely preventable\u201d \u2013 which the coroner did not.<\/p>\n \u201cIt makes you feel sick,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n The coroner found an SUV driver had approached the M1 on-ramp about 12.30am on July 26 when he saw Bikram Dangol and his motorcycle lying on the road.<\/p>\n He pulled over to help, but behind him was a truck that couldn\u2019t stop. The driver went around the car and heard a thud under his truck, which then \u201cjack-knifed\u201d and hit the Honda too.<\/p>\n Dangol was trapped under the truck and died.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Police subsequently found \u201ca large wet patch over the road surface\u201d and water-soaked painted-over lines that were \u201cconsiderably more slippery\u201d than others.<\/p>\n The investigator concluded the black paint, without less abrasive coating thanks to the water leak, \u201cwould have led to the loss of control by the rider\u201d if crossed.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were no other reasons provided as to why Mr Dangol lost control of his motorcycle,\u201d the coroner wrote.<\/p>\n The aftermath<\/p>\n The source of the water leak was found about 6.30am, when an excavator dug up the adjacent overgrown embankment to reveal a rusty fire hydrant.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Greater Western Water still insisted the asset did not belong to the company, but it needed to turn off the water supply that fed it.<\/p>\n GWW\u2019s solicitors later told the coroner \u201ca significant degree of responsibility lay with VicRoads\u201d for delays fixing the water leak and not having a dedicated contact person.<\/p>\n The coroner issued one recommendation: that the Department of Transport and Planning consider working with all water authorities in Victoria to establish a shared asset register.<\/p>\n Bina Rajthala just wants bureaucratic finger-pointing to stop and wishes public authorities would take greater responsibility.<\/p>\n She is also upset about having to wait almost eight years for the coroner\u2019s finding.<\/p>\n \u201cIt took me back all the way to 2018,\u201d she says. \u201cI [felt] devastated. I cried a lot again, but I cry in silence \u2026 Everyone thinks I am strong from outside.\u201d<\/p>\n Her brother, Bijay Rajthala, adds: \u201cThe justice delayed is justice denied.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Her lawyer, Matthew Naughtin, of Zaparas Lawyers, worries the Coroners Court is underresourced. The family is considering legal action.<\/p>\n He says the delayed finding not only stopped Dangol\u2019s family from moving on, but also meant lessons are taking longer to be learnt.<\/p>\n A Coroners Court spokesperson said only about 0.8 per cent of investigations completed last financial year were older than five years.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201dWe are constantly striving to reduce case time frames, while balancing the need to ensure each death is thoroughly investigated,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n In a statement, Greater Western Water managing director Cameron FitzGerald said the authority was \u201cworking diligently with the Department of Transport\u201d to implement the coroner\u2019s recommendation.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the Department of Transport said: \u201cOur thoughts and condolences are with the Dangol family, whose lives have been immeasurably impacted by this tragic road death.\u201d<\/p>\n Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Bina](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/12c46c619612416ef7fc1ef101eab5bce2e9c4de.jpeg\")
Bina Rajthala at the extensively rebuilt junction where her husband, Bikram, died in 2018.Jason South<\/p>\n![\"Bikram](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/b8e31a6f3f5b742c4b61070616cc6e82a411c8fb.jpeg\")
Bikram Dangol died aged 30.Facebook<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/b5796d0d0481ca7becd01df4c027e7aa938561d6.jpeg\")
The scene of Bikram Dangol\u2019s fatal motorcycle crash back in July 2018.Nine NewsThe crash<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0323e9aa56d4b3ed6525da87204d767d0042ffd2.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Lachlan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/f3f0faa45aeb365d7b6cf06085c41167f1e6b728.png\")
Lachlan Abbott<\/a> is a crime reporter at The Age. He was previously a city reporter and covered breaking news.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"August 22, 2026 \u2014 7:50pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":864541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-864540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=864540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/864541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}