General News
4 April, 2024
Easter speeding a concern
Close to 40 drivers were caught speeding locally over the Easter period — with the offence once again the highest detected, following last month’s Labour Day weekend operation. Running for about four days, Victoria Police’s Operation Nexus led...
Close to 40 drivers were caught speeding locally over the Easter period — with the offence once again the highest detected, following last month’s Labour Day weekend operation.
Running for about four days, Victoria Police’s Operation Nexus led to a total of 8238 traffic offences recorded across the state, between March 28 and April 1.
Locally, in the Goldfields Police Service Area (PSA) which covers the Central Goldfields, Mount Alexander and Loddon shires, 58 incidents contributed to that total tally.
Close to 70 percent of these offences related to speeding — with 39 observed in the region.
These numbers follow similar road rule breaches recorded by police in March, during the Labour Day weekend operation — indicating that the rate of motorists going over the posted speed limit continues to be a concern.
Other offences in the area included four cases of unlicensed driving, three incidents of impaired driving, and seven illegal mobile phone usage interceptions.
Elsewhere in Victoria, the breakdown involved almost 4000 drivers caught speeding, with over 400 people clocked travelling more than 25 km/h over the speed limit.
On top of this, 378 drivers were taken off the roads for getting behind the wheel with alcohol and drugs in their system.
Additionally, more than 1200 people were detected either driving unlicensed or unregistered vehicles.
According to police, three people also sadly died over the long weekend — two of the fatal collisions occurred in rural areas.
More than half of all deaths on the roads in 2024 have occurred in rural Victoria.
Following the conclusion of the operation, Road Policing Assistant Commissioner Glenn Weir said the rate of certain offences remained disappointing.
“In the lead up to Easter we were concerned a number of people would drive impaired over the Easter period and sadly that became a reality,” he said.
“And to see people combining alcohol and speed is terrifying, putting not only their lives but the lives of others at serious risk — we saw two separate occasions of people overloading their cars, with children, then driving impaired. This is complete idiocy and it’s lucky none of those children were killed or injured.
“The Easter long weekend has finished but we will continue to be on our roads, anytime, anywhere.”
So far this year, 74 people have died on Victoria’s roads compared with 83 at the same time last year.