A bigger police presence on roads across the western suburbs over the grand final weekend delivered worrying results, according to Victoria Police.
Westgate highway patrol, which covers Wyndham, Maribyrnong and Hobsons Bay, issued 267 infringements as part of Operation Scoreboard, with drivers in Wyndham accounting for 205 of the offences.
Sergeant Aaron Prentice-Evans, of Westgate highway patrol, said Wyndham being a thoroughfare for people travelling to the coast for the long weekend could be the reason it was so highly represented in the statistics.
Across the three police service areas, 10 people were caught driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, 35 drivers were apprehended for speeding, two infringement notices were issued for not wearing a seatbelt, 31 were found to be driving unlicensed or disqualified, and 13 were driving an unregistered vehicle.
Seventy infringements were issued in the category of “other traffic offences”, which includes illegal lane changing, careless driving, tailgating, and other driver-related offences.
Sergeant Prentice-Evans said he was unimpressed by the number of people driving unlicensed or disqualified.
“These people are unlicensed or disqualified for a reason. It’s concerning that they aren’t heeding the warnings they’ve been given and are still committing offences and being caught,” he said. “They aren’t learning.”
He said the police approach to Operation Scoreboard was different to other campaigns.
“The idea was to have a high-visibility police presence to deter people from committing offences rather than detect them. We’re trying to stop the driver behaviour that leads to collisions,” he said. “That’s why we had a lot more ‘other’ offences than mobile phones or driving without a seatbelt.”
Sergeant Prentice-Evans said the focus of the operation was on the Princes Freeway, the Westgate Freeway and the Western Ring Road interchange.
He said that leading into the Christmas holidays, the highway patrol would continue to have a high presence on roads across the Westgate division.
