Victoria Police is warning motorists to take care this Easter after a shocking start to the April school holidays with five fatalities on the weekend.
Operation Compass – launching at midnight – will see police flood roads and highways across the state in a major effort to reduce road trauma.
The operation will be extended to coincide with Easter and Anzac Day public holidays, which fall over consecutive weekends this year.
Following the lowest number of lives lost for March on record last month, police are warning motorists not to be complacent during April.
There have been 11 lives lost already this month, including five fatalities which occurred over the first weekend of the Victorian school holidays.
Police are anticipating widespread travel across the state and will be targeting areas deemed high-risk.
Motorists travelling to regional areas will be a focus, with fatalities on regional roads up almost 40 per cent on last year.
Police issued more than 9000 infringements over a five-day Easter operation in 2021 and will again be on the lookout for speeding and impaired drivers.
Motorists are encouraged to use VICSES Driver Reviver sites across the state to manage fatigue on longer trips.
Operation Compass commences at 12:01am Thursday 14 April and will conclude at 23:59pm on Monday 25 April 2022.
For more information and tips for staying safe on the roads visit the Road Safety page on the Victoria Police website.
Quotes attributable to Assistant Commissioner Road Policing, Glenn Weir:
“Easter is a high-risk period on our roads – it’s a major holiday weekend that attracts significant travel across the state.
“This year poses an additional challenge, with the Easter and Anzac Day public holidays falling over consecutive weekends. As a result, we’ll be conducting an extended operation this year to coincide with both weekends.
“We cannot be complacent. Just last weekend there were five fatalities on Victorian roads. This follows a record low number of lives lost for March, which just shows how easily trauma can occur if we don’t all make road safety a priority.
“We’ll be doing everything we can to prevent more lives being lost – expect to see lots of police, lots of police vehicles and plenty of alcohol and drug testing during this period”.
