More than 200 driving offences were detected in Melton and Moorabool by Victoria Police during Operation Scoreboard over the AFL Grand Final long weekend.
The four-day, statewide road policing operation saw police targeting high-risk driving behaviour, with a particular focus on drink and drug driving.
One drink driving offence detected in Moorabool involved a P-plate driver who was allegedly caught drink driving twice in 12 hours.
The 29-year-old Epping man was pulled over driving a red Mazda after he was allegedly detected speeding on the Western Freeway in Myrniong about 6pm on Thursday, September 28.
After a positive roadside reading, he was taken to a police station and returned an evidentiary breath test of 0.133.
The man’s licence was immediately suspended and he was issued with infringement notices for drink driving, exceeding the speed limit by 20kmh and failing to display P plates.
Just 12 hours later police were called to the Western Highway at Warrenheip in relation to a suspected drink driver.
As officers were heading to the location, they were advised a red Mazda had been involved in a collision with a pole.
The same 29-year-old Epping man from the previous incident, who was the sole occupant of the car, was assessed at the scene and taken back to a police station where he returned an evidentiary breath test 0.134
Police discovered his infringement notices and paperwork regarding his licence suspension inside the crashed vehicle.
He was charged with exceeding the prescribed concentration of alcohol and driving whilst suspended.
The man has been bailed to face Ballarat Magistrates’ Court on November 21.
Police caught 12 drug drivers and 10 drink drivers across the two LGAs, but almost half of all offences detected were for speeding, with 54 detected in Melton and 45 in Moorabool.
The next most common offences detected were unregistered vehicles, mobile phone offences, disqualified drivers and seatbelt offences.
Road Policing assistant commissioner Glenn Weir said the long weekend was busy for police, with Operation Scoreboard detecting more than 5000 offences statewide.
“While many celebrated across the weekend, it was a tragic period on the roads with four lives lost in separate collisions,” he said.
“With the number of lives lost now at a seven-year high, it is paramount that we all do everything we can to stop more trauma on our roads this year. Now is not the time to be complacent.”
