Westgate highway patrol is increasing its use of motorbikes and bicycles in a bid to improve law enforcement.
Westgate highway patrol unit commander Jason Templar said two-wheeled transport – including motorcycles, dirt bikes and push bikes – was one of the best ways to navigate heavy traffic and identify distractions offences, such as using a mobile phone while driving.
Last week, two police officers on push bikes fined 62 people in Footscray’s CBD in one shift – double the average enforcement rate for a single shift.
“You can literally ride right up next to a vehicle and people don’t realise when they see a push bike that it could be police,” Senior Sergeant Templar said.
“Footscray is a perfect example. The CBD is hard to navigate in a four-wheeled vehicle, and using our road bikes and push bikes, we’ve seen some significant gains in our enforcement of distraction offences – using phones when driving, and seatbelt offences.”
Senior Sergeant Templar said the bikes were also used at Pacific Werribee to stamp out anti-social behaviour around the shopping centre.
He said a number of Westgate highway patrols members – which cover Wyndham, Maribyrnong and Hobsons Bay – were upskilling to use the road bikes.
“We are unique in that we’re the only highway patrol in the state that has this capability.”
