Victoria passes last year’s road toll over Cup weekend with two months to go
A tragic long weekend on the state’s roads – including the deaths of five people in Daylesford – means Victoria has already surpassed last year’s road toll with two months left in the year.
Police & Courts
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The state’s cup weekend road toll has reached a 15-year high, with last year’s tally for total lives lost already surpassed with two months to go.
Thirteen people were killed on the road between Friday November 3 and Tuesday November 7, taking the state’s 2023 tally to 251 – the highest figure recorded at this stage of the year since 2008.
The total road toll for 2022 was 241 people.
These figures come after Pratibha Sharma, her partner Jatin and their daughter Anvi, 9, as well as Vivek and Vihaan Bhatia were killed at the Royal Hotel in Daylesford after a car ploughed through the beer garden on Sunday.
Road Police assistant commissioner Glen Weir said these numbers should serve as a “wake up call”.
“Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones impacted by these collisions, as well as our police members and emergency services partners responding to these confronting scenes,” he said.
“The fact we’ve also surpassed lives lost for all of last year and reached the highest number of fatalities in 15-years is just truly tragic.
“With two months to go in the year, it is incredibly concerning that we find ourselves in this position.”
Eight more fatal collisions were reported across the weekend, including an 18-year-old Deniliquin man, a 20-year-old Notting Hill man, a 47-year-old Maryborough man, a 37-year-old Endeavour Hills man, a 22-year-old Springvale man, an 18-year old Shepparton woman, a 37-year-old Clayton man and an unidentified driver who crashed into a tree.
Police also detected 8,373 driving offences as part of its five day Operation Furlong and pulled over more than 280 alleged drink drivers and 176 drug drivers.
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