BENDIGO Highway Patrol has launched its long weekend road safety operation even as they grapple with a death in their patch.
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Some of its officers assisted with the ongoing investigation into a fatal truck crash near Lockwood on Thursday morning even as others were making their presence felt on major highways.
Five units spent the morning pulling over trucks passing along the Calder Highway in Marong, making sure drivers were complying with various rules, Senior Sergeant Ian Brooks said.
"That was not simply a spur of the moment thing. It's been happening across central Victoria," he said.
Police are yet to confirm what caused the crash near Lockwood that killed the truck driver and have focused in on a tree that may have fallen across the road before, or during, the crash.
Much of Bendigo's king's birthday weekend road operation will focus on major roads used by holiday makers moving around the state but Senior Sergeant Brooks said police would appear on lesser travelled roads too.
They want to rein in a climbing number of people dying on Victorian roads.
More than 140 lives have been lost this year in a high not seen since 2007.
That includes three in the Greater Bendigo area, five in Campaspe and one each in both Mount Alexander and Mount Macedon.
Senior Sergeant Brooks said his officers would be targeting "everything" including speeding, drug and drunk driving, driver distractions, seatbelts and fatigue.
"The weather might not be ideal this weekend so slow down and obey the road rules," he said.
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Tom O'Callaghan
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
