A DRUG-affected driver swerved across lanes of traffic on the Calder Freeway, sparking a police pursuit before he was caught in Macedon on Saturday.
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Police received multiple triple-0 calls from concerned drivers after the blue Mazda car was spotted driving in the wrong lanes and bouncing off guard rails along the freeway near Elphinstone, heading towards Melbourne. The 32-year-old Bendigo man was pulled over in Macedon just after 3pm.
Leading Senior Constable Scott Andrews said the man returned a negative reading for illegal drugs but the level of prescription medications he had taken made him a danger on the roads.
“He was impaired by other drugs,” Leading Senior Constable Andrews said.
“It’s illegal to drive under the influence of drugs to the point where you can’t drive properly.
“The fact that we were getting a number of different callers calling up about him shows that it was definitely careless driving.”
Police seized the man’s keys and he was put on a train home, ahead of a charge on summons.
Leading Senior Constable Andrews said the man’s erratic driving was one of a number of incidents on local roads over the weekend.
“With the crowds coming through to the Deniliquin Ute Muster, combined with the football, there was a fair bit happening,” he said.
“It’s disappointing that people don’t take care on the roads in those busy periods.”
On Saturday night a P-plate driver driving on the Calder Freeway in Bendigo refused a breath test after he was pulled over by police for speeding.
Police said the 23-year-old from Taylors Lakes was driving under the influence and could now face two years’ loss of licence.