Almost 100 motorists in Cardinia were apprehended for speeding over the Labour Day long weekend, as Operation Arid ramped up enforcement across the state.
Across the Cardinia Police Service Area, speeding was by far the prominent offence for road users, with 97 motorists apprehended throughout the course of the long weekend – more than triple the figures for neighbouring Casey.
Two drink drivers and five drug drivers were caught by officers.
Eight motorists in Cardinia were caught driving while disqualified, as well as seven unlicensed drivers, 14 unregistered vehicles and one impoundment, with police using automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology to detect the offences.
Four drivers were caught disobeying signs and signals, two were nabbed using their mobile phones while driving and six were found not to be wearing a seatbelt.
Police detected almost 7000 traffic offences throughout Victoria during the four-day road policing operation, following a shocking start to the year on Victoria’s roads.
There were 74 lives lost in the first 73 days of the year, which is 45 per cent higher than the same time last year and the five-year average – both 51.
Speeding, impaired driving, mobile phone use and unauthorised driving were the key issues detected by police during the operation.
But Assistant Commissioner for Road Policing Glenn Weir said the majority of people obeyed the road rules over the long weekend.
“Considering it was a long weekend, with high traffic volumes and good weather, we saw the majority of people doing the right thing on our roads,” he said.
“Disappointingly though, we continue to detect motorists for the type of behaviour that’s been contributing to road trauma this year – that being speed, distraction, and impaired driving.”
Statewide, more than a third of offences detected related to speeding, with almost 80 per cent of speeding motorists detected between 10km/h and 25km/h over the speed limit.
Mobile phone offences jumped 23 per cent from the last statewide operation in January, with 323 motorists caught using their phone while driving.
There were two lives lost on Victorian roads over the long weekend with fatal collisions in Barnawartha North on Saturday and Wangaratta on Monday.
There have been 11 lives lost to date in March, historically the highest-risk month on Victorian roads.
Asst Comm Weir said it is simply not good enough to ignore the warnings.
“Police are constantly engaging with the community to educate first and enforce when the message doesn’t get through and we make no apologies for this. We are doing everything we can to reduce trauma on our roads.
“March is a busy time with footy returning, lots of major events and good weather – so if you’re out and about this month, you can expect us to be out too.”
Operation Arid ran from 12.01am on Friday 10 March to 23.59pm on Monday 13 March, 2023.
