Moreland motorists retain crown as state’s worst drivers
A speeding driver with six unrestrained children in the car – including a one-month-old baby – was among hundreds of motorists caught during a four-day police operation. And an inner city municipality was again crowned the state’s worst.
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Moreland motorists have once again been crowned the worst drivers in Victoria in a police sting.
Police figures for the Australia Day long weekend road blitz – Operation Amity – show the Moreland area recorded the most traffic offences across the four days.
Among the 710 drivers issued tickets were 385 caught speeding, 97 using their mobile phone and 70 disobeying traffic signals.
There were also five drink drivers detected and nine drug drivers.
Police busted one driver travelling at 131km/h on the Western Ring Road with six unrestrained children on board, including a one-month-old baby.
Another driver, a 20-year-old P-plater, told police they were just revenue raising when they clocked him at 116km/h in an 80km/h zone on Airport Drive on Monday night while high on drugs in a car with a cracked windscreen and bald tyres.
And an unlicensed driver blew four times the legal blood alcohol limit in Essendon on Sunday evening.
Road Policing Inspector for Moreland, Hume and Moonee Valley, Chris Allen, said some of the behaviour was “staggering”.
He said Operation Amity had a really big focus on drink and drug driving, speeding and distraction.
“We try very hard in having that strong visible presence out on our roads to deter that, we utilise a lot of public messaging to educate the community but it is disappointing to see we still have that behaviour,” Insp Allen said.
“We still see instances of people that are doing things that put not only themselves but other people at risk on the roads,” he said.
“We saw a number of incidences over the period of the operation where people were drink driving with high levels of alcohol in their system, and people that were distracted using mobile phones.
“The risk that poses to themselves and other people is extremely high,” he said.
Brimbank was second worst municipality for offending, with 243 drivers caught breaking the law, including 118 for speeding.
Banyule came in third with 237 total offences – 127 for speeding, 32 for using a mobile phone and 24 for driving an unregistered vehicle.
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Across the rest of the northern suburbs, Hume registered 46 offences, Moonee Valley 27, Whittlesea 26, Macedon Ranges 21, Nillumbik 19 and Darebin seven.
Road Policing Command Assistant Commissioner Libby Murphy said it was disappointing to see people continuing to make poor decisions on the road.
“No one is invincible and that’s unfortunately the hardest lesson people learn,” she said.
She said until the message sunk in for everyone, police would continue educating the community and enforcing where possible.