Community
18 October, 2024
Speeding remains top concern for police
POLICE detected 112 offences during an ongoing road safety operation across Victoria’s west in September.
Operation West Connect saw highway patrol units target major arterials in western Victoria, targeting high-risk driving behaviour associated with road trauma.
It comes as 211 lives have been lost on the state’s roads so far this year, with 53 of those occurring on roads in western Victoria.
There have been 15 lives lost in the Bendigo, Campaspe, and Macedon Ranges region and a further 14 lives lost in the Ballarat and Moorabool region.
Horsham and Northern Grampians have experienced seven lives lost, and there have been five lives lost in the Mildura and Swan Hill region.
The Warrnambool and Southern Grampians region, and the Geelong and Surf Coast region, have both experienced six lives lost this year.
Operation West Connect is an ongoing operation focused on detecting speeding, distracted and impaired drivers.
More than half of offences detected in September were for speeding, with more than 85 per cent of speeding drivers detected between 10km/h and 25km/h over the speed limit.
Police conducted 363 preliminary breath tests and 70 preliminary oral fluid tests for drugs, detecting four drug driving offences and one drink driving offence.
The total (112) offences detected during Operation West Connect on Friday, September 13 included 63 speeding offences, 12 defect notices, seven unregistered vehicles, six seatbelt offences and four mobile phone offences.
Police also found four drug driving offences from 70 roadside drug tests, three disqualified/suspended and unlicenced drivers, one heavy vehicle offence, one disobey traffic sign and one drink driving offence from 363 preliminary breath tests.
Operation West Connect will continue across western Victoria this month.
The area includes major arterial roads from Geelong, Bacchus Marsh, Bendigo and Echuca as far west as the South Australian border, and from the Surf Coast, Warrnambool and Portland as far north as the New South Wales border.
“We continue to detect far too many speeding motorists travelling between 10km/h and 25km/h over the speed limit,” western region road policing Inspector Justine Ryan said.
“Speeding continues to be the number one contributing factor to serious injury and fatal collisions, and travelling even just a little bit over the speed limit significantly increases the likelihood of this occurring.
“This month during Operation West Connect we also saw a higher number of people caught not wearing seatbelts and using their mobile device while driving.”
Inspector Ryan encouraged all drivers to slow down, stick to the speed limit, always wear a seatbelt and avoid using a mobile device and becoming distracted while driving.
“These are fairly simple, but essential actions everyone can take to keep themselves, their loved ones and other road users safe while on the road,” Inspector Ryan said.
