CROWDS on the way to Echuca’s Southern 80 were targeted by a traffic blitz in Heathcote that netted nearly a quarter of a million dollars in unpaid fines.
The joint operation between Heathcote police and the Sheriff’s Office also caught a man wanted by police.
Leading Senior Constable Darren Scherger said the man tried to flee when he saw the roadblock in the main street.
“The NPR (number plate recognition) flagged it as a car of interest,” he said.
Gallery: Faces at the Southern 80 2012
“And the driver didn’t want to come into the roadblock. He drove into a court and police were able to stop him.
“His car was impounded for evading police.”
Leading Senior Constable Scherger said 14 penalty notices were issued for unregistered vehicles, four for unlicensed driving, two for logbook offences and three for other traffic matters.
He said four defect notices were handed out, one person was found on five outstanding warrants for failing to appear at court, and four more people would go to court for licence-related offences.
“The Sheriff’s Office processed 65 people for $247,890 in unpaid warrants and fines,” he said.
“They took over $15,000 in fines at the roadblock.”
In Echuca, police were kept similarly busy.
By yesterday morning more than 50 people had been arrested for drunkenness.
Inspector Martin Dorman said police had issued 104 penalty notices for public drunkenness and inappropriate behaviour and 54 individuals had been arrested for being drunk.
But overall, Inspector Dorman said he was happy with crowd behaviour.
He said police conducted 3624 breath tests and just three people were caught drink-driving.
“That’s quite heartening when you think a lot of those people weren’t at the booze bus sites,” he said.
“The message up here was quite clear, due to the overt police presence we had in the area since Thursday afternoon, that one of the areas we are really targeting is drink-driving.”
Inspector Dorman said there was one “idiot” though, who police caught driving while more than five times the legal limit.
“One person was pulled over with a reading of 0.28; he had driven up from the eastern suburbs of Melbourne,” he said.
Echuca police also issued 210 penalty notices for offences ranging from vehicles being unregistered, drivers being unlicensed, using mobile phones while driving and not wearing seatbelts.
Inspector Dorman said more than 120 police were involved in the operation – including mounted police and a dog unit – with some coming from as far as Melbourne to help out.
He said this year had been one of the biggest police operations over the Southern 80 weekend.
“Years before there were a lot fewer police and a lot more people arrested for drunkenness,” he said. “I believe it’s been much better this year and the community of Echuca was pleased with the level of police attention.”
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