SWAN Hill police issued dozens of fines to speeding drivers during the King’s Birthday long weekend.
Local police saturated roads across the Mallee as they attempted to curb road trauma amid the rapidly growing number of lives lost on Victorian roads this year.
Operation Regal ran from Friday until Monday.
In the Swan Hill police service area – which encompasses Gannawarra Shire – 79 speeding offences were detected, four drink drivers, two drug drivers, three disqualified drivers, two unlicenced drivers and six unregistered vehicles.
Five offences for disobeying signs/signals and two cyclist offences were also reported.
According to Victoria Police, one in every 335 drivers tested by police were caught drink driving during the four-day blitz.
There were 205 drink driving offences detected from 68,673 preliminary breath tests.
A further 168 drug driving offences were detected from 2,740 roadside drug tests – a strike rate of one in every 16 drivers.
More than 40 per cent of all offences detected were for speeding, with the majority of those caught between 10km/h and 25km/h over the speed limit.
There was one fatal collision during the weekend.
The total lives lost on Victorian roads increased to 141 – up from 126 at the same time last year.
Road policing Acting Assistant Commissioner David Byrt said it was disappointing that so many motorists disregarded the road rules during the weekend, especially during treacherous weather conditions.
“It is even more difficult to avoid a collision in wet weather or when visibility is poor if you’re speeding, distracted, or driving while impaired, and yet we caught so many people blatantly taking those risks,” he said.
“The number of drivers who were caught driving while alcohol or drug affected this weekend is completely unacceptable.
“These drivers are not only a serious risk to themselves, but to all other road users.”
