Police detected 155 offences during an ongoing road safety operation across Victoria’s west in August.
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 191 lives have been lost on the state’s roads so far this year, with 50 of those occurring on roads in Western Victoria.
There have been four fatal collisions in the state’s west this month, occurring in Mannibadar, Lucas, Corio and Drummond.
It follows a horror month where 13 lives were lost on roads in Western Victoria during July.
Operation West Connect is an ongoing operation focused on detecting speeding, distracted and impaired drivers.
Almost half offences detected in August were for speeding, with 75 per cent of speeding drivers detected between 10km/h and 25km/h over the speed limit.
Police conducted 321 preliminary breath tests and 41 preliminary oral fluid tests for drugs, detecting six drug driving offences and two drink driving offences.
Police also detected a significant number of heavy vehicle offences, including 30 log book offences.
The total 155 offences detected during Operation West Connect on Monday 19 August 2024 included:
• 67 speeding offences;
• 35 heavy vehicle offences;
• 10 unregistered vehicles;
• Six drug driving offences from 41 roadside drug tests;
• Six disqualified/suspended and unlicenced drivers;
• Six defect notices;
• Four seatbelt offences;
• Three disobey traffic sign/signal
• Two drink driving offences from 321 preliminary breath tests; and
• One mobile phone offence
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:
“July was a terrible period on roads in Western Victoria with 13 lives lost and this month we’ve experienced another four lives lost.
“Operation West Connect is an ongoing effort to help drive down the high levels of road trauma we’re experiencing, with police on the look out for any driving behaviour that puts road users at risk.
“We were quite surprised by the high number of heavy vehicle offences detected in August, mainly related to logbook offences – this suggests to us that some truck drivers are choosing to be non-compliant which is not only dangerous to themselves, but to all other road users.
“It’s imperative that everyone is mindful of how their actions behind the wheel can contribute to making our roads safer – it’s up to all of us to prioritise road safety.”
