Australia Day celebrations may have wrapped up but police have been left shaking their heads as motorists continued engaging in risky behaviour on the state’s roads over the long weekend.
While most people made the right choices, Operation Amity – which incorporated Friday’s National Day of Action – saw a number of road users nabbed taking unnecessary gambles behind the wheel.
Across the four-day operation, police detected 6313 traffic offences, with 233 drink drivers and 141 drug drivers caught.
Among those detected were a woman intercepted at a Cranbourne booze bus site at more than five times the legal limit, returning an alleged reading of .291 per cent.
Similarly, a motorcyclist returned the same alleged reading in Mount Waverley after he was caught by police at an automatic number plate recognition site.
Road Policing Command Assistant Commissioner Libby Murphy said it was disappointing to see people continuing to make poor decisions on the road.
“No one is invincible, and that’s unfortunately the hardest lesson people learn,” AC Murphy said.
“Until the message sinks in for everyone, we’ll continue educating the community and enforcing where possible.”
AC Murphy said despite the results, it was pleasing to see the number of drug driving incidents drop from 165 during last year’s operation.
“Drink and drug driving continue to be major factors when it comes to road trauma and while there’s still a long way to go, it’s promising to see a decline in the number of drug drivers on our roads,” she said.
The long weekend sadly saw one pedestrian die following an incident in Newborough, but it was in stark comparison to the five lives lost on the roads during the same operation last year.
“We tend to measure these operations with figures, but we need to remember a life is not just a number and road trauma is not just about deaths,” AC Murphy said.
“The weekend also saw separate collisions in Boronia, which left two people in a critical condition, and Werribee, where two people sustained serious injuries.
“Thankfully they have not translated into further fatalities, however these incidents still take enormous tolls on families, and no doubt there’ll be a long road to recovery ahead.”
AC Murphy praised those who took the road safety message seriously.
“For each person who looked after their mate and stopped them making a poor decision, or who simply considered their own actions before driving, this is what saves lives,” she said.
“I sincerely thank you for the part you have played in road safety.”
Operation Amity ran from 12.01am on Friday 24 January to 11.59pm Monday 27 January 2020.
Traffic offences detected include
233 drink drive offences
141 drug drive offences
133 disqualified/suspended Drivers
200 unlicensed drivers
544 unregistered vehicles
2649 speeding offences
296 mobile phone offences
365 disobey signs/signals
106 vehicle impounds
179 seat belt offences
State-wide, the National Day of Action saw 1462 traffic offences detected, including:
• 43 drink drivers
• 37 drug drivers
