Police across the division, including Bendigo, put in 720 patrolling hours into Operation Arid, which also saw officers breath-test more than 4500 people.

Bendigo Police Senior Sergeant Ian Brooks said although there were no fatal collisions over the weekend, there were many disappointing actions taken by "careless" drivers.

Related: Bendigo Highway Patrol on the march to drive down road trauma as part of Operation Engage

One "disappointing" figure to come from the weekend was the detection of 34 impaired drivers, Senior Sergeant Brooks said.

"For 34 people to be picked up for impaired driving in the space of four days in our area, is an absolute disgrace," he said.

"That shows us that people are taking unnecessary and stupid risks on the roads.

"That was reflected across the state, more than 400 people detected for impaired driving state-wide and it's disgraceful."

The operation saw police ramp up enforcement following a tragic start to the year on Victorian roads.

More than 7000 offences were detected state-wide with automatic numberplate recognition technology helping police detect 1122 unauthorised drivers - either for being unlicenced, disqualified/suspended or driving an unregistered vehicle.

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Forty per cent of offences detected during the operation related to speed.

There were also 515 motorists detected for alcohol and drug offences from 95,174 tests.

At a local level, 362 traffic offences were detected.

Senior Sergeant Brooks said the numbers were far too high.

"It's not like this was a surprise operation, we run it every year. The message is clear, if you take the risk, you will be caught," he said.

"Those impaired drivers were potentially going to drive down the road and kill themselves so the purpose of the operation was to ensure people got to the place they needed to go safely and they did.

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"There wasn't one fatal collision compared to last year which was a fantastic improvement.

"It's a pleasing result that no one died and one of those reasons was because we had a large presence and we caught 34 impaired drivers that could have been fatal collisions."

Five people have been killed on Victoria's roads this month, bringing the total number of lives lost this year to 55, more than seven at the same time last year.

Although Operation Arid came to a close this week, month long Operation Engage will still be going until March 31.

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