Police take more than 130 dodgy drivers off roads during Christmas holidays in Melbourne’s east
Police have nabbed about 1500 speeding, drunk and distracted drivers on roads in Melbourne’s east over Christmas and the New Year, including almost 600 in one municipality alone. SEE HOW YOUR AREA FARED
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More than 100 impaired drivers were removed from eastern suburbs roads during the Christmas and New Year holiday period after a Victoria Police operation.
Booze and drug bus set-ups for Operation Roadwise caught 69 drug-drivers and 65 drink-drivers between December 19 and January 5.
Drug-drivers were most prevalent in the Yarra Ranges with 25 motorists caught and Whitehorse where 18 were taken off the roads.
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The highest number of drink-drivers were seen in the Yarra Ranges and Maroondah areas, with 15 and 12 motorists blowing over the legal limit respectively.
Victoria Police Eastern Region Division 1 Inspector Sharon Congreve said the force was pleased no lives were lost in the region but emphasised more could still be done to improve road safety.
“There were still 18 serious-injury collisions in our division and every one of those collisions has impacted on numerous people’s lives when they should have been enjoying the holiday period with their families,” Insp Congreve said.
“Our goal moving in to 2020 is to keep our road users safe by working with the community to prevent road trauma and through police continuing to focus on detection of impaired and distracted drivers on our roads.”
Across the state, the operation saw police detect more than 22,313 traffic and 2910 criminal offences.
Impaired driving remained a concern, with 628 drink-driving and 621 drug-driving offences detected.
General offences detected during the operation included 522 disqualified/suspended drivers and riders; 897 unlicensed drivers/riders; 2236 unregistered vehicles; 8743 speeding offences; 1098 mobile phone offences; 1247 disobey signs/signals; 319 vehicle impounds; and 626 seat belt offences.
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Road Policing Command Assistant Commissioner Libby Murphy said while 2019 was a particularly challenging year on the roads for Victoria, the latter six months of the year saw the number of deaths finish at a 10-year low.
“It is comforting to know that over the past six months that through a combination of enforcement efforts and community messaging we are starting to see a difference,” AC Murphy said.
“Saying this I don’t want to lose momentum and have history repeat itself, which saw a shocking number of people lose their lives at the beginning of last year.”