Police say there have been too many Greater Bendigo road deaths as state's road toll plummets

Bendigo Highway Patrol’s Brad Hall said any life lost on the roads was too many.

“That’s six empty chairs at their Christmas table. That’s the way I look at it,” he said.

Of those who died, three were drivers, two were passengers and one was a motorcyclist, according to the Transport Accident Commission’s statistics.

The number of people who died was identical to 2017 and up slightly on other years, with five fatalities in 2016 and 2015 or the four in 2014.

Greater Bendigo was not the only part of central Victoria to witness death on the roads this year, according to the TAC.

Two drivers in the Campaspe local government area died. So did a passenger in the Swan Hill area and a driver in the Loddon shire.

A driver, a passenger and a bicyclist all died in incidents on Mount Alexander roads.

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In the 12 months to midnight, December 30, 211 people had lost their lives on Victorian roads, according to the TAC.

While this year’s data did not include the final night of the year, it was a nearly 20 per cent decrease on the previous year and was well down on the average 253 deaths each year.

Victoria Police is in the midst of a major operation to keep it that way, targeting the main causes of crashes on the road.

“Those being excessive speed, drug and alcohol driving, distractions, fatigue and seatbelts,” Acting Senior Sergeant Hall said.

The operation came as researchers at Neuroscience Research Australia said fatigue on the road had reached alarming levels.

One in five drivers admitted to having fallen asleep at the wheel at least once, the researchers said.

NeuRA Sleep and Breathing Lab head Danny Eckert urged drivers not to be complacent and warned caffeine could not replace a good night’s sleep.

“Driving fatigued is just as dangerous as driving under the influence and fatigue combined with a legal amount of alcohol is even more likely to result in a crash,” he said.

Acting Senior Sergeant Hall said Operation Roadwise’s fatigue focus was on those driving long distances, late at night or on unfamiliar roads.

“We all know that there is nothing you can do to fight fatigue other than to have a snooze,” he said.

Operation Roadwise is expected to continue through to next Monday.

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