Police detected almost 8000 traffic offences during a five-day road policing operation over the Easter long weekend.
Operation Nexus saw police highly visible and actively enforcing across the state in an effort to reduce road trauma.
It follows a shocking start to the year on Victoria’s roads with 89 lives lost, up 25 per cent on the five-year average.
Good Friday accounted for almost a quarter of all detections over the Easter period, with 101 motorists caught drink and drug driving on this day alone.
More than a third of all offences detected were for speeding, with almost 80 per cent of motorists detected between 10km/h and 25km/h over the speed limit.
Almost a quarter of speeding offences were detected on Easter Monday, the final day of the operation.
Mobile phone offences jumped 31 per cent from last year’s Easter road policing operation with 343 motorists caught using their phones while driving.
Police also detected and removed 529 unauthorised drivers from roads, including suspended, disqualified and unlicensed drivers.
The total 7741 offences detected during Operation Nexus included:
• 2908 speeding offences;
• 920 unregistered vehicles;
• 529 disqualified/suspended and unlicenced drivers;
• 343 mobile phone offences;
• 318 disobey signs/signals;
• 231 drink driving offences from 106,838 preliminary breath tests;
• 175 drug driving offences from 3263 roadside drug tests;
• 167 vehicle impoundments; and
• 163 seatbelt offences
There were two lives lost on Victorian roads over the Easter period, with single-vehicle fatal collisions in White Hills on Friday and Wangaratta on Sunday.
With five lives lost to date in April, police enforcement will continue across the state throughout the school holiday period and the unofficial Anzac Day long weekend later this month.
Operation Nexus ran from 12:01am on Thursday 6 April and concluded at 23:59pm on Monday 10 April 2023.
Quotes attributable to Assistant Commissioner Road Policing, Glenn Weir:
“It is extremely disappointing that we’ve detected almost 8000 motorists in a five-day period for a range of traffic offences – this just shows a blatant disregard for road rules and for the safety of all road users.
“Considering the start to the year we’ve had, we would hope that more people would heed the warnings and make a conscious effort to drive safely, particularly at Easter.
“Time and time again, it is those behaviours such as speed, impaired driving and distraction primarily caused by mobile phone use that are contributing to road trauma, yet we continue to detect thousands of motorists for these offences.
“Everyone thinks road trauma won’t happen to them, until it’s too late. Don’t let your complacency be the reason for another death or serious injury on our roads.
“With Easter now behind us, we’ll turn our attention to the remaining April school holiday period and the upcoming Anzac Day public holiday – you will certainly see police enforcement efforts continuing throughout the month.
