Victoria Police will conduct a major road policing operation on the Hume Freeway in an effort to reduce road trauma.
Operation Hamilton will see Highway Patrol members highly visible and enforcing on the Hume Freeway between Glenrowan and Wodonga.
The operation will run in conjunction with Operation Furious, a New South Wales Police operation on the Hume Freeway over the border between Albury and Sydney.
The joint cross-border operations will see police focusing on behaviours that contribute to road trauma, including speed, distraction, seatbelt non-compliance, drink and drug driving.
It comes as the Wangaratta and Wodonga region experienced a significant increase in road trauma in 2023, with 25 fatal collisions, a 166.6% increase on the previous year, and 187 serious injury collisions, a 110% increase on the previous year.
In the last 12 months, there has been 27 injury collisions on the Hume Freeway between Glenrowan and Wodonga, and one fatal collision on the Hume Freeway at Chiltern where four people were killed after a truck and car collided on 31 August 2023.
Police are warning motorists to take extra care when travelling on the Hume Freeway, which is a major route in Victoria carrying high volumes of traffic.
The operation will see police enforcing speed limits and intercepting vehicles for random alcohol and drug testing.
There will also be a focus on heavy vehicles, with truck drivers to be subjected to compliance checks.
Operation Hamilton will run from 12:01am on Tuesday 5 March until 11:59pm on Thursday 7 March 2024.
For more information and tips for staying safe on the roads, visit the Road Safety page on the Victoria Police website.
Quotes attributable to Eastern Region Division 4 Superintendent, Joy Arbuthnot:
“We’re teaming up with New South Wales police to conduct an extensive road policing operation that will cover over 600km/s of the Hume Freeway.
“Motorists travelling on this major route between Glenrowan and Sydney should expect to see police highly visible and enforcing on both sides of the border – we’ll be focusing on speed, distraction, seatbelt non-compliance, as well as testing motorists for alcohol and drugs.
“As one of the state’s major roads, the Hume Freeway experiences a significant amount of road trauma and we’re doing everything we can to prevent this from happening.
“We’re asking all motorists to take extra care when travelling on the Hume – stick to the speed limits, be mindful of sharing the road with other road users and manage fatigue by taking regular breaks on longer trips.
“We need to keep all road users accountable, so we won’t hesitate to penalise you if you’re caught breaking the road rules.”
