A month long road safety operation has resulted in a 95% increase in speed detections for South Australia Police.
To address the rising road toll on our roads, last month police launched Operation High Impact F5 (Fatal Five), a traffic operation targeting the fatal five offences of drink and drug driving, speeding, distraction, seatbelts and dangerous road users.
During the operation, a total of 3,760 drivers were detected by officers exceeding the speed limit, with ten of those drivers issued an Instant Loss of Licence notice for exceeding the limit by 45 kph or more.
Looking at the same period last year, 1,930 drivers were detected exceeding the limit, resulting in a 95% increase in officers detecting these speeding drivers.
Some of these drivers included a 37-year-old man who was arrested for driving at 160kph in a 110kph zone, a 41-year-old man driving at 160kph in a 100kph zone, and a 21-year-old man driving at 150kph in a 60 kph zone.
During the operation, 44,610 drivers were also screened for alcohol, with 270 drivers returning a positive result.
A total of 3,384 people were screened for a prescribed drug (methylamphetamine, THC or Ecstasy), resulting in 305 positive results.
There was a 34% increase in detecting unlicenced drivers, with police finding 1,064 people driving while suspended, disqualified, or with an expired licence, compared to 792 drivers in 2018.
Police experienced a 12% increase in seatbelt detections due to 389 drivers committing a seatbelt offence compared to the 347 drivers last year.
Distraction based offences experienced a decrease of 2%, with 789 motorists detected for this offence (including mobile phone offences), compared to the 802 last year.
“I’m astounded at these driver detections, especially the 95% increase for speeding,” said Superintendent Bob Gray, the Officer in Charge of the Traffic Services Branch.
“Although we have successfully caught these people, it’s still incredibly disappointing to look at the sheer volume of people making such poor choices behind the wheel.
“However, it is encouraging to see that distraction based offences are down by 2%, which hopefully means people are getting the message.
“Any lapse of judgement in a vehicle, such as using a mobile phone or speeding, can have catastrophic consequences.”
As a regular operation, High Impact F5 was originally meant to run later in the year, but South Australia Police made the decision to push it forward after the recent horror on our roads.
Operation High Impact F5 ran from 12:01am Thursday 14 November 2019 until 11:59pm Wednesday 11 December 2019.
