Geelong Highway Patrol praise long weekend motorists, despite dangerous Colac police chase

Two Colac men have been found hiding in a bedroom after allegedly attempting to outrun police travelling at 180km/h, with their vehicle stashed in a backyard.

Two Colac men were found hiding in a bedroom after attempting to outrun police travelling at 180km/h, with their vehicle stashed in a backyard.

Two Colac men have been found hiding in a bedroom after allegedly attempting to outrun police travelling at 180km/h, with their vehicle stashed in a backyard.

Colac highway patrol were on the Colac-Ballarat Rd in Ondit on Monday morning when they attempted to pull a car over as part of the Labour Day long weekend blitz, Operation Arid.

Police said the vehicle failed to stop, sped off and was allegedly clocked reaching speeds of up to 180km/hr in a 100km/hr zone.

A car was impounded after a dangerous police chase on the Colac-Ballarat Road. Photo: Victoria Police.

Officers later attended an address on the same road and arrested two males, who were both found hiding inside the house.

An 18-year-old who police claim was the driver was charged with numerous offences including thefts, failing to stop, dangerous speeding, unlicensed driving and drug driving.

Highway patrol Senior Sergeant David Brockway said the alleged speeding and brazen disregard for the law was disappointing on an otherwise successful long weekend operation.

“That speed is outrageous, that is moving,” he said.

The alleged driver was remanded in custody to appear at Geelong Magistrates Court.

The 28-year-old passenger was released pending summons, after being processed for separate matters.

The vehicle was impounded for 30 days at a cost of $1405.

It comes as police heavily targeted the Surf Coast in an intense long weekend operation, with more than 200 offences detected.

Operation Arid picked up nine drunk driving and three drug driving offences from almost 3000 roadside tests, with Sergeant Brockway praising the Geelong and wider communities for their “responsible efforts”.

“We were reasonably happy with the operation, we had significant numbers down here across the weekend, good weather and people hung around on Monday,” he said.

“The roads were very busy, but we found everyone was pretty patient and we didn’t have any major issues with vehicles travelling down the coast.
“That is a delight given the amount of people that came down to the Geelong region for the weekend.”

Originally published as Geelong Highway Patrol praise long weekend motorists, despite dangerous Colac police chase