Victoria Police considers double demerits to cut road trauma

Victoria Police may enforce double demerits for dangerous drivers to stem fatalities on the state’s roads over the festive period.

One of the state’s top cops has revealed the force would be open to looking into enforcing double demerits during high-danger periods on Victorians roads.

Victoria is one of a few states not to crack down during public holidays and high-risk periods, whereas both New South Wales and Queensland enforce the harsher penalties.

Acting assistant commissioner Justin Goldsmith said Victoria Police would be keen to discuss the prospect with relevant agencies.

“It’s not something that we have in Victoria,” he said.

“We would be open for a conversation, particularly at high-risk periods, on options that are going to help reduce road trauma.

Victoria Police will look at enforcing double demerits during high-danger periods on Victorians roads. Picture: Daniel Pockett

“That’s something that we will work with our partners at the Department of Justice and the Department of Transport to see if that’s a viable option going into the future.

“We would have to consult widely with the partnership about the effectiveness of that.

“(But) we’d be open to any sort of option that would help us reduce road trauma.”

Assistant acting commissioner Goldsmith on Tuesday officially launched Operation Roadwise in a bid to limit the number of fatalities on Victorian roads over the festive period.

Asked if the government would look to implement such a measure, Police Minister Anthony Carbines said: “We’ll be informed by our road safety partners, the experts and Victoria Police on what are the mechanisms that we may need to consider to keep people safe on our roads”.

“We also need to acknowledge that those past couple of years have been a little different for everybody, so we need to get back into what’s the cadence of these things and make the right assessments,” he added.