Police targeting target repeat dangerous, drunk and drug drivers under command of new Superintendent Bob Gray
REPEAT dangerous, drunk and drug drivers will be targeted as part of new focus by the South Australian Police Traffic Support Branch.
REPEAT dangerous, drunk and drug drivers will be targeted as part of new focus by the South Australian Police Traffic Support Branch.
The initiative comes as police release figures which show that of 48 road fatalities this year, 37 of the people who died had a history of driving breaches and offences.
Superintendent Bob Gray, the new head of traffic support branch, has made recidivist drivers his target in his first six months in the job.
Supt Gray told The Advertiser he would focus on the “fatal five” factors which are at play in the majority of crashes. The fatal five are drink and drug driving, dangerous road users, distraction, speed and seat belts.
“My intention is to enforce the fatal five and to get good outcomes for road users and, hopefully, drive the road toll and the serious crashes down,” Supt Gray said.
“It comes down to a suite of different factors. I’ve got a very heavy focus on intelligence-led deployments, so asking where is it happening, why is it happening and who is involved.
“So we will look at deployments based on evidence and at targeting recidivist road users that are creating dangerous situations on our roads. We will actively find those people, look at our intelligence holdings and we will target them.”
Supt Gray, formerly officer in charge of Western Adelaide Local Service Area, said drivers who breached the road rules repeatedly did not deserve to be on the state’s roads.
“The South Australian Road Safety policy is Towards Zero Together and people that contribute to the fatal five deliberately should not be on our roads,” Supt Gray said.
“If I have the evidence and the information to get them off road, that’s what I intend to do.”
Supt Gray he took the road toll and the number of people offending on the roads “personally”.
“I want to have an effect while I’m here. I want to see people get a good result on our roads and for the road toll and the number of serious accidents to come down,” Supt Gray said.
“I want people to start listening to the message and that’s why my focus is enforcement and intelligence based policing.”
The SA road toll was 48 compared with 66 at the same time last year. There have been two months this year with only three fatalities, the first since March, 2015.