By Olivia Condous
Police were patrolling roads over the Queen’s Birthday long weekend as part of Operation Regal, in order to target high-risk driving behaviour across the state.
In the Melton Police service area, police recorded 36 speeding offences over the four day period, as well as 6 drivers under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
The Moorabool Police service area recorded 97 speeding offences, an 83 per cent increase from Easter long weekend records.
Moorabool Highway Patrol leading senior constable Brett Ellens said the higher number of speeding offences could have been due to a higher number of officers on the roads and overall drivers were well behaved.
“It’s still 97 too many,” Constable Ellens said.
“But we recorded no collisions [in the Moorabool Shire] causing injuries or fatalities over the weekend.”
“Drivers were well-behaved, considering the weather,” he said.
There were 2437 speeding offences recorded across the long weekend period, which made up 40 per cent of the total road offences.
According to Victoria Police, six lives have been lost on roads in June so far.
Victoria Police assistant commissioner road policing Glenn Weir said it was pleasing to see reduced levels of road trauma over the long weekend.
“It’s completely unacceptable that so many motorists are continuing to take risks on our roads, especially with wet weather to contend with,” Mr Weir said.
“We continue to detect a high number of speeding and unauthorised drivers, these are people that are making a conscious decision to blatantly disregard the road rules.
“Police will continue to target and enforce against those who engage in risky driving behaviour.”
