Over 150 offences were detected during a major road safety operation across Regional Victoria.
Operation West Connect saw 240 breath tests and 24 drug tests conducted in Bendigo, with one drunk driver and two drug drivers pulled from the road.
Operation West Connect is an ongoing operation, focused on detecting speeding, distracted and impaired drivers on major roads. Since the operation began, over 150 offences have been detected.
Sixty per cent of offences detected were for speeding, with 76 motorists detected travelling between 10km/h and 25km/h over the speed limit and 14 detected travelling less than 10km/h over the speed limit.
13 speeders were also detected in the Bendigo area across the operation.
Bendigo Police Inspector, Dan Davis, tells Robbo on the Wake Up Call that the behaviour is not worth losing lives on our roads.
Operation West Connect will continue across Western Victoria – encompassing major arterial roads from Geelong, Bacchus Marsh, Bendigo and Echuca as far west as the SA Border, and from the Surf Coast, Warrnambool and Portland as far north as the NSW Border.
Western Region Road Policing Inspector, Justine Ryan, says that speeding on regional roads continues to be a major contributing factor to serious injury and fatal collisions.
“It’s evident so many motorists are not heeding the warnings as we are continuing to detect far too many people speeding,” Inspector Ryan says.
“We need drivers to slow down and keep to the speed limits, particularly on regional roads – they are in place to keep all road users safe.
“Operation West Connect is an ongoing road policing initiative and motorists should expect to see police out enforcing across major arterials in Western Victoria.
“We’re doing everything we can to drive down road trauma in the state’s west”.
In Bendigo, Operation West Connect caught:
- One drink driving offence
- Two drug driving offences
- 13 speeding offences
- One count of disobeying a traffic sign
- One seatbelt offence and one other traffic offence
- Two disqualified/suspended drivers and one unlicensed driver
- Five unregistered vehicles
- Two impoundments
- Handed out two defect notices
- One heavy vehicle offence and nine heavy vehicle intercepts
