By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
A POLICE operation targeting drink-drivers over Grand Final weekend will be heavily enforced in Casey, Cardinia and Dandenong.
Operation Scoreboard will run state-wide from 1 to 4 October but will be strongly focused in Melbourne’s outer south-east, where Acting Senior Sergeant Pat Green from the Casey Cardinia Highway Patrol said a lack of public transport sees a rise in the likelihood of drink-driving.
“We got an intelligence brief and our analysts looked at previous Grand Final weekends, and now because it’s a public holiday people are likely to be drinking more,” Act Sen Sgt Green said.
“And in places like Cardinia, and Casey, which are further removed from town and where public transport isn’t great, people rely on cars.”
With Grand Final Friday being gazetted as a public holiday, Act Sen Sgt Green said the Casey Highway Patrol was getting on the “front foot”, targeting the three neighbouring south-eastern municipalities.
“Because Casey has been identified as a high risk Local Government Area for road trauma we’ll be getting the lion’s share of assistance outside our division,” he said.
“We will target drivers causing road trauma, drink, drug, speeding, mobile phones, not wearing seatbelts … there’s a huge emphasis on this area and the coverage will be 24/7.”
Operation Scoreboard will include patrols of both marked and unmarked cars, with packaged liquor outlets to be regularly monitored.
