More than 7000 offences were detected during a major road safety blitz in Victoria over the Labour Day long weekend.
Operation ARID, staged over four days, saw police ramp up enforcement following a tragic start to the year on Victoria’s roads. Rural roads and holiday hotspots were a particular focus.
Forty per cent of offences detected during the operation related to speed. There were also 515 motorists detected for alcohol and drug offences from 95,174 tests.
Automatic numberplate recognition technology helped police detect 1122 unauthorised drivers – either for being unlicenced, disqualified/suspended or driving an unregistered vehicle.
The total 7193 offences detected during Operation ARID included:
- 2987 speeding offences
- 659 unregistered vehicles
- 463 disqualified/suspended and unlicenced drivers
- 299 disobey signs/signals
- 284 drink driving offences from 89,445 preliminary breath tests
- 239 mobile phone offences
- 231 drug driving offences from 5729 roadside drug tests
- 150 seatbelt offences; and
- 119 vehicle impoundments
Five people have been killed on Victoria’s roads this month, bringing the total number of lives lost this year to 55, more than seven at the same time last year (48).
Operation ARID ran from 12:01am on Friday 11 March and concluded at 23:59pm on Monday 14 March 2022. Victoria Police will continue its increased road safety focus across March, which is the highest-risk month for road trauma.
Assistant Commissioner Road Policing, Glenn Weir said it was pleasing to see the majority of road users doing the right thing over the long weekend, with reduced levels of road trauma overall.
“However, it’s completely unacceptable that so many motorists are continuing to take risks on our roads,” Mr Weir said.
“Our increased focus on road safety across March has only begun and the community should be assured they’ll continue to see police out enforcing during this high-risk period.
“We plead with all road users to make good choices – one bad decision is all it takes to cause a tragedy.”