LIVES lost on Victorian roads this year to date have reached a staggering 218 deaths, well surpassing the total of last year's road toll.

Last year, a total of 213 lives were lost but that figure has already been exceeded 10 months into 2019.

For rural areas particularly, there has been a 30 per cent increase of deaths from last year, with 116​ of this year's fatalities occurring on rural road...