Almost 200 motorists were detected drink and drug driving on Victoria’s roads in a safety blitz over the AFL Grand Final long weekend.
Operation Scoreboard saw Victoria Police ramp up enforcement with 2054 traffic offences detected and a further 198 offences related to drink and drug driving.
The four-day, statewide operation targeted high-risk driving behaviour with a particular focus on speeding and impaired driving.
Despite the Melbourne lockdown and ongoing restrictions across the state, police detected 104 motorists drink driving from 11,833 tests while almost one in 10 drivers tested returned a positive reading for drugs.
Police also detected 920 speeding motorists, issued 56 fines for using a mobile phone while driving and intercepted 162 disqualified, suspended or unlicenced drivers.
Notable detections included a 40-year-old male driver whose vehicle was impounded after allegedly travelling at 171km/h in a 60km/h roadworks zone on Geelong-Bacchus Marsh Road in Parwan; a 34-year-old male driver whose ute was impounded after he was caught driving on a suspended licence in Kaarimba; and a 46-year-old female driver with an alleged blood alcohol reading of 0.92 in Tecoma.
Sadly two lives were lost over the weekend, with fatal collisions at King Valley on Saturday night and in the early hours of Sunday at Diggers Rest, bringing the total lives lost to 168 this year.
A summary of offences detected from Operation Scoreboard include:
• 104 drink driving offences from 11,833 preliminary breath tests
• 94 drug driving offences from 898 roadside drug tests
• 75 disqualified/suspended drivers
• 87 unlicensed drivers
• 188 unregistered vehicles
• 920 speeding offences
• 56 mobile phone offences
• 87 disobey signs/signals
• 35 vehicle impounds
• 54 seatbelt offences
• 53 motorcyclist offences
• 35 vehicle impoundments
Operation Scoreboard was conducted from 12:01am Thursday 23 September to 11:59pm Sunday 26 September 2021.
Quotes attributable to Assistant Commissioner Road Policing, Glenn Weir:
“We thank the majority of Victorians who adhered to the restrictions over the AFL Grand Final weekend and enjoyed celebrations at home.
“It is extremely disappointing that we continue to catch people undertaking high-risk behaviour on our roads, with more than 2000 offences detected over the weekend – this is totally unacceptable.
“Sadly, there were also two lives lost in separate, single-vehicle collisions over the weekend – that’s two lives too many.
“As restrictions ease over the coming weeks across the state, police will continue to be highly visible on Victorian roads and we won’t hesitate to remove dangerous drivers and hold motorists to account.
“Whether it’s speed, distraction, disobeying road rules, not wearing a seatbelt, fatigue or impairment from alcohol or drugs at play, road trauma can be avoided.”
