Coronavirus Melbourne: Less traffic leads to more speeding, crashes

Traffic is much lighter than usual, but in police in Melbourne’s outer east are finding more speeding and minor collisions. Find out why.

Police are seeing more minor crashes in Knox and Maroondah. (Stock image)

The roads may be quieter but the number of speeding offences and minor car crashes in Melbourne’s outer east has been on the up, police say.

Drivers are taking advantage of less cars being on the roads and are not concentrating as much as usual, according to Knox highway patrol Sergeant Tanya Lavin.

Highway patrol units are out on the roads as much as ever.

Sgt Lavin said they had taken licences off seven drivers in the past week who were all caught travelling between 30km/h to 50km/h over the speed limit.

“That’s more excessive than normal,” she said.

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Sgt Lavin said drivers were also becoming more complacent on the roads, such as not giving way as much as they should, leading to an increase in the number of minor collisions.

She’s urging drivers to pay extra attention on the roads with all the stress and distractions about.

“We know people are going through a lot,” she said.

“Just double check when you’re looking.”