Police detected over 130 offences during an ongoing road safety operation across Victoria’s west in July.
Operation West Connect saw highway patrol units enforcing across major arterials in Western Victoria targeting high-risk driving behaviour associated with road trauma.
It comes as 141 lives have been lost on the state’s roads so far this year, with 44 of those occurring on roads in Western Victoria.
Bendigo, Campaspe and the Macedon Ranges division has been the worst affected area in the state’s west with 13 lives lost this year, followed by the Ballarat and Moorabool division with a further nine lives lost.
There have been seven fatalities in the Horsham/Northern Grampians division, five fatalities each in the Geelong/Surf Coast, Warrnambool/Southern Grampians, and the Mildura/Swan Hill divisions.
Operation West Connect is an ongoing operation focused on detecting speeding, distracted and impaired drivers.
Almost half offences detected in July were for speeding, with the majority of speeding drivers detected between 10km/h and 25km/h over the speed limit.
Police conducted 469 preliminary breath tests and 44 preliminary oral fluid tests for drugs, detecting 12 drug driving offences and one drink driving offence.
Western Region Road Policing Inspector, Justine Ryan said “Slowing down and sticking to the speed limit, as well as something as simple as putting on your seat belt, are things we can all do to remain safe on the roads”
