Today marks the start of a major month-long operation conducted by Victoria Police targeting road trauma and heavy vehicles
By Ruza Zivkusic-Aftasi | February 1, 2012
Today marks the start of a major month-long operation conducted by Victoria Police targeting road trauma and heavy vehicles.
Operation Halo begins as police announce a decline in the road toll for the fourth consecutive year.
There were 287 deaths on Victorian roads in 2011 – one less than in 2010.
Heavy vehicles were involved in 38 fatal collisions, which is a decrease of 21 percent compared with 2010, according to the road toll results.
Head of Road Policing Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe says there will be about 100 police a day working across Melbourne and surrounding suburbs targeting heavy vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists and motorcycle riders who breach road rules.
Five inner-Melbourne councils have been selected for the operation due to high rates of road trauma involving vulnerable road users in each area, Walshe says.
The operation will run for 14 days with the help of a TAC promotional team campaigning for pedestrian safety in the CBD.
“An analysis of road toll figures show that speed is believed to be a major contributing factor in about 20 percent of collisions which resulted in fatalities,” Walshe says.
“Research shows that if all drivers dropped just 1km/h off their average speed we could save about 15 lives every year and avoid up to 300 serious injuries.”