Victoria Police will boost its presence on the roads this summer in a bid to limit road trauma
November 15, 2011
Victoria Police will boost its presence on the roads this summer in a bid to limit road trauma.
From this Friday until January 8 police will have a commanding presence across the state’s roads. Motorists can expect to be breath-tested, speed-checked and monitored by police every day during the week.
The launch comes after a devastating two weeks on Victorian roads in which 16 people have been killed, including six people in Saturday’s Penshurst collision, with one of them being a truck driver.
Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe says months of planning had gone into the summer road enforcement.
“Over the seven weeks we will be running a large scale, state-wide road enforcement campaign. We are targeting speed, we are targeting distracted drivers and we are targeting drunk and drug drivers,” he says.
“This is a critical time on our roads. As the weather warms up we find more people are heading out for Christmas parties and social gatherings. With this comes a heightened risk of drink drivers on our roads.”
Three separate operations will be conducted as part of the campaign, with Victoria Police saying 100 members from the State Highway Patrol will be working on high-risk road trauma police service areas.
Automated number plate recognition will be operating across the state to detect unlicensed drivers, mobile speed cameras will be placed at high-risk locations and the drug and alcohol unit will be conducting large-scale testing.
Victoria Police says its Operations Response Unit will focus on catching drink drivers on back roads and side streets who may be avoiding booze buses.
“While we will all be working hard to make this happen, it’s all road users that can make the real difference.
“We all know what the key risks are – speed, alcohol and distraction. Stay alive this summer and stay away from the risks,” Walshe says.