MORE than 100 offences were handed out in and around central Victoria by police over the Australia Day public holiday.
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Speeding drivers made up for a large proportion of motorists detected doing the wrong thing in the division over the operation.
Operation Amity ran over two days, starting on Tuesday morning and ending at midnight on Wednesday.
Bendigo Highway Patrol Senior Sergeant Ian Brooks said in the region four people were apprehended for impaired driving and more than 1000 primarily breath tests were conducted.
Senior Sergeant Brooks said the region also recorded one facility in Torrumbarry, near Echuca, and another four serious crashes.
It appears the messaging around seatbelts isn't getting through and we are seeing the problem, we know it exists, the messaging is there, it's just that people don't care and aren't listening.
- Bendigo Highway Patrol Senior Sergeant Ian Brooks
All are under investigation by investigators.
Senior Sergeant Brooks said the primary offending included speeding, which was reflected across the state.
"We saw particularly high speeds, there was a substantial amount of people across the state who were detected doing speeds in excess of 20km per hour over the speed limit," he said.
"It's ridiculous to see that happening."
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Another seven people were caught using their mobile phones and a handful of others were not wearing their seatbelt.
"Our focus was on the highways and we saw people driving on the highways using their mobile phones - they are just taking a stupid risk in doing that," Senior Sergeant Brooks said.
"Seatbelt compliance was better but it's still poor to see people not wearing their seatbelts.
"It appears the messaging around seatbelts isn't getting through and we are seeing the problem. We know it exists - the messaging is there - it's just that people don't care and aren't listening.
"It's very disappointing."
Senior Sergeant Brooks said traffic volumes were noticeably higher and although driver behaviour was on par to previous years, it still wasn't good enough.
"It's still poor to see so many people detected doing the wrong thing across the entirety of our division," he said.
"Unfortunately a fatal collision in the middle of a policing operation is disappointing and we never want to see that.
"We advertise that we are having a higher than normal police operation and we still see people committing these offences. It's like they don't care really."
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