Melton highway patrol did not net a huge haul of road offenders over the Australia Day weekend, but officers are still concerned about drivers who flout the law.
Operation Amity 2015 started across the state on Friday, January 23, and finished last Monday. Melton and Caroline Springs police tested 2088 drivers and booked three drivers for exceeding the blood-alcohol limit; four people were driving while suspended or disqualified; eight were unlicensed; there were 49 speeding offences and one mobile phone offence; two drivers disobeyed road signs and three were caught for seatbelt offences.
Senior Sergeant Ross Burbidge said while he was “pleased” with the results, drivers needed to be more cautious and careful.
“I’m pleased we got only three drivers for exceeding the alcohol level. Normally our detection rate is one in every 300 to 400 drivers,” he said. “But we’ve still got a large number of people speeding.
“People are sometimes in a hurry, sometimes they’re not concentrating, and at other times they’re just being careless.”
He said the Western and Melton highways were, “unfortunately”, hotspots for speeding drivers.
“People don’t seem to have any care for any other drivers or themselves. The evidence is that if people speed, it increases their risk of collision.”
Senior Sergeant Burbidge said even though seatbelt offences were declining each year, police still saw a lot of people not wearing them.
“Sometimes we even see children in the back seat who aren’t wearing their seatbelts, and it’s disappointing,” he said.
Moorabool police detected two drivers exceeding the blood-alcohol limit, two were driving while suspended or disqualified, and one was unlicensed.
There were three unregistered vehicles taken off the road, 28 speeding offences recorded and three drivers who disobeyed road signs.
Road policing Assistant Commissioner Robert Hill said there was still much more to be done to make the roads safer.
“One fatality-free weekend doesn’t change the fact 18 people have lost their lives on our roads already this year,” Assistant Commissioner Hill said.
The road toll after the long weekend was 24, three more than at the same time last year.
