SA police ‘frustrated’ by road fatalities as long weekend operation results are revealed

South Australia police launched a long weekend operation, targeting the five biggest contributors to serious injury crashes.

SA police say it is ‘frustrating’ when drivers or riders die on the roads as they reveal results of a five-day operation targeting five major contributors to serious injury crashes.

Over the long weekend, two people were seriously injured while, in a separate incident, a 19-year-old man from Mount Barker died on Monday night after coming off his motorbike and hitting a tree.

Officer in Charge of the Traffic Services Branch Superintendent Bob Gray said there was a strong association with motorcycle fatalities and speed or drink and drug driving.

“It’s about the way people behave when they get on that motorbike and ride it, he said.

Officer in Charge of the Traffic Services Branch Superintendent Bob Gray. Picture: Morgan Sette/AAP

“It’s always frustrating when someone loses their life on our roads, particularly a 19-year-old who had many years in front of him.

“The consequences for families, work colleagues, communities is terrible and I wouldn't like to see anybody go through that.

“We are urging all motorcyclists to be extra vigilant, and ride to the road conditions.”

Supt Gray said it was concerning that the 15 motorcyclists who have died this year were all males.

“Males are over-represented in road fatalities but particularly with motorcyclists’ accidents and serious injury crashes and a lot of it comes because males make bad decisions and take on risk-taking behaviour.”

So far this year, there have been 15 motorcyclists and two passengers who have died on the roads.

The total number of lives lost on SA roads is 68 compared to 83 at this time last year.

During SA police’s Operation Long Weekend, speeding was one element that was targeted. Picture: SA police

Over the long weekend, SA police launched an operation — which ran from Thursday to Monday — and targeted people not wearing a seatbelt, driving while distracted, drink or drug driving, speeding and dangerous road users.

During that period, 5412 people were alcohol tested with 41 detected under the influence.

One of them was a man at Roxby Downs who returned a positive test of 0.235 early Sunday morning.

He lost his licence for a year and had his vehicle impounded for 28 days and will be summonsed to appear in court at a later date.

A total of 44 people, of the 631 who were drug tested, returned a positive result.

There were 616 people caught speeding, 40 were fined for not wearing a seatbelt and 30 expiations were handed to drivers on their phones.

Supt Gray thanked the majority of road users for doing the right thing but said it was concerning people still continued to make poor choices.

“Drugs and driving don't mix. Drugs reduce a driver’s mental alertness, vigilance and concentration, physical co-ordination and their ability to react quickly to what is happening on the road,” he said.

“Wearing a seat belt is one of easiest ways of protecting drivers and passengers when travelling in a vehicle. If you are involved in a serious crash, wearing a seatbelt doubles your chance of surviving”