Police detected more than 150 offences during a major road safety operation across Victoria’s west.
Operation West Connect saw highway patrol units enforcing across major arterial roads in Western Victoria targeting high-risk driving behaviour.
It comes as 104 lives have been lost on the state’s roads so far this year, with 28 of those occurring on roads in Western Victoria.
Operation West Connect is an ongoing operation focused on detecting speeding, distracted and impaired drivers.
Sixty per cent of offences detected were for speeding, with 76 motorists detected travelling between 10km/h and 25km/h over the speed limit and 14 detected travelling less than 10km/h over the speed limit.
Police conducted 562 preliminary breath tests, 66 preliminary oral fluid tests for drugs and intercepted 40 heavy vehicles for compliance checks.
The total 157 offences detected during Operation West Connect on Friday 10 May 2024 included:
• 95 speeding offences;
• 12 unregistered vehicles;
• Seven disqualified/suspended and unlicenced drivers;
• Six mobile phone offences;
• Six heavy vehicle offences;
• Four drug driving offences from 66 roadside drug tests;
• Three drink driving offences from 562 preliminary breath tests;
• Three seatbelt offences;
• Two vehicle impoundments; and
• Two disobey traffic signs
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:
“Speeding on regional roads continues to be a major contributing factor to serious injury and fatal collisions, and yet it’s evident so many motorists are not heeding the warnings as we are continuing to detect far too many people speeding.
“We need drivers to slow down and keep to the speed limits, particularly on regional roads – they are in place to keep all road users safe.
“Operation West Connect is an ongoing road policing initiative and motorists should expect to see police out enforcing across major arterials in Western Victoria.
“We’re doing everything we can to drive down road trauma in the state’s west”.
