Around half of motorists caught drink driving during a police operation across central and Northern Victoria came from Bendigo, police say.
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Bendigo’s highway patrol, which covers a number of local government areas, has so far registered 25 alcohol and 11 drug-affected drivers in the six days of statewide road-policing Operation Roadwise.
Twelve of the drink drivers and five of the drug drivers were registered in Bendigo, Senior Sergeant Ian Brooks said.
“That’s 17 people that have chosen to ignore the messages and put other people's lives at risk,” he said.
Six serious injury collisions occurred across the division, all of which were avoidable, Senior Sergeant Brooks said.
“They’ve all resulted from a mistake by a driver. If drivers were a little bit more patient or aware they would not have happened,” he said.
The operation runs until January 6, but preliminary results were “pretty good”, Senior Sergeant Brooks said.
“Instances of speeding are still disappointing. People are still doing it with little regard for anything else that's going on in the world,” he said.
Senior Sergeant Ian Brooks said despite the recent campaign targeting drug and drink driving before Christmas, some motorists still chose to ignore the message.
“It beggars belief that people continue to do that .You can celebrate and enjoy yourself but you don't have to drive your car.”
The seasoned road policeman urged drivers to take care, and take their time, on the roads over the festive period.
“It’s a notorious time of year. There’s large volumes of traffic, it’s hot, people are agitated or in a rush to get somewhere,” he said.
Last year, Victoria Police’s Operation Roadwise recorded 386 driving offences in the Bendigo policing region – 164 of which were speeding drivers, with a further 53 motorists driving unregistered vehicles.
Twelve vehicles were taken off Bendigo roads for traffic-related offences during the 24-day operation, meaning one car was impounded, on average, every other day in the region.
Police recorded 1113 offences across the broader region – including Kyneton, Campaspe, Goldfields and Bendigo – 59 of which were for impaired driving.
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