General News
13 June, 2024
Almost 3000 drivers found speeding
Speeding has once again topped the list of offences police detected over the King’s Birthday long weekend, with almost 3000 drivers caught over the legal limit. Operation Regal saw police target high-risk driving behaviour across the state over...
Speeding has once again topped the list of offences police detected over the King’s Birthday long weekend, with almost 3000 drivers caught over the legal limit.
Operation Regal saw police target high-risk driving behaviour across the state over the long weekend in a bid to drive down road trauma.
Despite the increased police presence on local roads, infringements recorded over the weekend mark an eight percent increase on the same period last year and concerningly, speeding made up 40 percent of all offences detected.
Police conducted over 107,000 preliminary breath tests with 198 drink driving offences detected and a further 147 drivers returned a positive roadside drug test.
A total 410 unauthorised drivers were also detected, either for being unlicensed, disqualified or suspended.
In the Goldfields Police Service Area, which covers the Central Goldfields, there were a total 28 offences detected, with 20 of these relating to speeding.
There were three drink drivers and one drug affected driver picked up by police, as well as one disqualified driver, two unregistered vehicles and one vehicle was impounded.
Tragically, there were two lives lost over the long weekend, including a 29-year-old Dandenong North female pedestrian who was struck in a fatal hit-run in Dandenong on June 7 and a 29-year-old Chelsea male motorcyclist who died following a collision in Chelsea on June 9.
The weekend’s fatalities bring the total lives lost to 128 in Victoria, with motorcyclist fatalities increas-ing to 33 from 19 at the same time last year.
Pedestrian fatalities have doubled to 20 from 10 at the same time last year.
Road Policing Assistant Commissioner Glenn Weir said it was concerning to see so many road users doing the wrong thing.
“It is much harder to avoid a collision in wet weather if you’re speeding, distracted, or driving while impaired, and yet we caught so many people taking those risks,” he said.
“Even more concerning was the high number of people detected drink or drug driving — these people are making reckless and selfish decisions that not only puts themselves at risk, but all other road users.
“It only takes one poor decision and a split second to cause a tragedy, and yet we’ve seen far too much of that on our roads this year.
“Police will continue to enforce against those who engage in risky driving behaviour — there will be zero tolerance for those who blatantly disregard the road rules.”