Victoria Police will be reaching for their laser guns today as new figures reveal speed has contributed to more than 30 road deaths this year.
It compares with 23 at the same time last year.
The operation, which will see police target roadways across the state, coincides with National Road Safety Week.
The annual initiative includes daily themes to highlight the impacts of road trauma and the importance of safe driving habits.
Today’s nationwide focus is speed.
In Victoria, motorists can expect to see Highway Patrol units, Public Order Response Team officers and general duties police saturating freeways, highways and roads.
Police will be using handheld speed measurement guns to detect and deter speeding motorists.
They will also be checking cars while driving, using automatic radar technology to measure the speed of passing cars.
Each year about 1200 people are killed and another 40,000 seriously injured on Australia’s roads.
Almost a quarter of all fatal collisions occur in Victoria with 284 lives lost in 2024.
Speed was a contributing factor in at least 45 of these deaths.
And provisional data for this year indicates it has contributed to 31 deaths.
Speeding is also the most common form of non-compliance among motorists.
National Road Safety Week was created by Peter Frazer of the Safer Australian Roads and Highways group after his 23-year-old daughter, and another man, were killed in a car crash in February 2012.
It will run from Sunday 11 May to Sunday 18 May 2025.
For more information about National Road Safety Week go to https://roadsafetyweek.com.au/
