Community
12 July, 2024
Police operation targets drivers
POLICE detected 165 offences during a major road safety operation across Victoria’s west last month.
Operation West Connect (held on Friday, June 28) saw highway patrol units enforcing across major arterials in western Victoria, targeting high-risk driving behaviour associated with road trauma.
It comes as 141 lives have been lost on the state’s roads so far this year, with 35 of those occurring on roads in western Victoria.
Bendigo, Campaspe and the Macedon Ranges division has been the worst affected area in the state’s west with 10 lives lost this year, followed by the Ballarat and Moorabool division with a further nine lives lost.
There have been six fatalities in the Horsham/Northern Grampians division, four fatalities in both the Geelong/Surf Coast and the Mildura/Swan Hill divisions, and two fatalities in the Warrnambool/Southern Grampians division.
There were three fatal collisions on roads in western Victoria in June, and a further six during the previous month in May – three of which were motorcyclists.
Operation West Connect is an ongoing operation focused on detecting speeding, distracted and impaired drivers.
Sixty per cent of offences detected in June were for speeding, with two thirds of speeding drivers detected between 10km/h and 25km/h over the speed limit.
Police conducted 338 preliminary breath tests and 50 preliminary oral fluid tests for drugs, detecting three drug driving offences and two drink driving offences.
Of the 165 offences detected during Operation West Connect, 100 were speeding offences.
There were also 20 unregistered vehicles detected, eight disqualified/suspended and unlicensed drivers, four heavy vehicle offences and three drug driving offences from 50 roadside drug tests.
Two drink driving offences were also recorded from 338 preliminary breath tests, along with two mobile phone offences, two seatbelt offences, one vehicle impoundment and one disobey traffic signal.
Operation West Connect will continue across the district this month, including areas stretching from Warrnambool and Portland to as far north as the New South Wales border.
“While road trauma is actually down on roads in western Victoria compared to last year, 35 lives lost is still far too many, and we know first-hand the ripple effect this has across our communities,” Western Region road policing inspector Justine Ryan said.
“Operation West Connect is just one road policing initiative we’ve implemented to help keep all road users safe on roads out in the state’s west.
“Our highway patrol members are always actively on the look-out for motorists who flout the rules and make dangerous choices that put all road users lives at risk.”
She added that speeding continued to be a major contributing factor to serious injury and fatal collisions on regional roads, and yet police continue to catch many people going over the speed limit.
“Slowing down and sticking to the speed limit, as well as avoiding distractions behind the wheel, are things we can all do to help make our roads safer and prevent further tragedies,” Ms Ryan said.
