The Melbourne Cup long weekend has been described by police as a “horror Cup weekend” after the total lives lost on Victoria roads reached a 15-year high.
Operation Furlong, the statewide drug and alcohol testing operation that took place during the Melbourne Cup weekend, saw a total of 13 lives lost across the state.
This number includes the 18-year-old Shepparton woman who died after her car crashed into a tree on Saturday in Euroa.
This brings the total number of lives lost on Victorian roads this year up to 251, the highest since 2008, when 256 lives were lost at the same point of the year.
This number also surpasses last year’s total of 241 lives lost on Victorian roads.
In our region, there have been 39 lives lost since New Year’s Eve.
While no crashes took place within Greater Shepparton during the long weekend, drivers were caught for various offences.
For Operation Furlong in Greater Shepparton, police conducted 1519 preliminary breath tests, of which four drivers came back exceeding the limit.
In addition, 24 preliminary oral fluid tests for drugs were also undertaken, which saw four drivers come back with drugs in their system.
The biggest offence was for speeding, with a total of 25 drivers recorded for going over the limit.
The weekend also saw 10 people caught driving unregistered vehicles, four unlicensed drivers, and three driving on a disqualified licence.
Other incidents during the weekend included impoundments, people committing cycling or seatbelt offences or drivers disobeying signs/signals and repairs/defect offences.
In total, Greater Shepparton numbers accounted for 0.92 per cent of the offences committed across the state during the long weekend, with the state’s total hitting 8373.
Senior Sergeant Highway Patrol Emma Moloney said while any number of offences was never good when it came to road safety, she was glad to see it was less than usual for the region.
“Overall, given the amount of testing and steps we took this weekend, to have a lower rate than usual for the detection of offences is good,” Sen Sgt Moloney said.
“It was also good that the Shepparton police service area didn’t see fatalities in their location, especially given the high number of lives lost over the state in recent times.
“I would encourage drivers to continue their vigilant driving behaviour and ensure they consider the states they’re driving in coming into the Christmas period and not get behind the wheel if driving and seek alternative options and be mindful of others on the roads and take regular breaks on long travels.”