Police detected over 130 offences during an ongoing road safety operation across Victoria’s west in July.
Operation West Connect saw highway patrol units enforcing across major arterials in Western Victoria targeting high-risk driving behaviour associated with road trauma.
It comes as 141 lives have been lost on the state’s roads so far this year, with 44 of those occurring on roads in Western Victoria.
Bendigo, Campaspe and the Macedon Ranges division has been the worst affected area in the state’s west with 13 lives lost this year, followed by the Ballarat and Moorabool division with a further nine lives lost.
There have been seven fatalities in the Horsham/Northern Grampians division, five fatalities each in the Geelong/Surf Coast, Warrnambool/Southern Grampians, and the Mildura/Swan Hill divisions.
There have been 11 fatal collisions on roads in Western Victoria to date in July.
Operation West Connect is an ongoing operation focused on detecting speeding, distracted and impaired drivers.
Almost half offences detected in July were for speeding, with the majority of speeding drivers detected between 10km/h and 25km/h over the speed limit.
Police conducted 469 preliminary breath tests and 44 preliminary oral fluid tests for drugs, detecting 12 drug driving offences and one drink driving offence.
The total 132 offences detected during Operation West Connect on Monday 22 July 2024 included:
• 62 speeding offences;
• 15 unregistered vehicles;
• 12 drug driving offences from 44 roadside drug tests;
• Seven disqualified/suspended and unlicenced drivers;
• Six seatbelt offences;
• Five heavy vehicle offences;
• Three vehicle impoundments;
• Two mobile phone offences;
• One drink driving offence from 469 preliminary breath tests; and
• One disobey traffic signal
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.
Quotes attributable to Western Region Road Policing Inspector, Justine Ryan:
“Unfortunately it’s been a terrible period on roads in Western Victoria, with 11 lives lost to date in the last month alone.
“We’re continuing to run Operation West Connect to help keep all road users safe on roads out in the state’s west, and drive down these high levels of road trauma we’re experiencing.
“Speeding continues to be a major contributing factor to serious injury and fatal collisions on regional roads, and yet we overwhelmingly throughout this operation, we continue to catch so many people going over the speed limit.
“Slowing down and sticking to the speed limit, as well as something as simple as putting on your seat belt, are things we can all do to remain safe on the roads”
