"Your loved one is not coming home. Not this Christmas, not any other Christmases."
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Police want Bendigo drivers to think of that door-stop conversation before they do the wrong thing this holiday season.
"The worst thing that can happen to a family around this time of year is to have us knock on the door," Bendigo Highway Patrol Senior Sergeant Ian Brooks said.
"But if the community is going to continue to just be blasé about speeding, or that one extra drink, then they are the ones who are going to be responsible for the road toll going up."
December marks the end of a year marred with 273 deaths on Victorian roads.
Police would not be able to enforce their way out of avoiding more deaths this Christmas, Senior Sergeant Brooks said.
"We can issue tickets to everybody that breaks the law until we run out of paper," he said.
"But everybody needs to just pitch in and say, 'we've had enough. Let's have a go at keeping our community safe'."
Police 'gone rogue' to catch dangerous drivers
A statewide holiday blitz named 'Operation Roadwise' aimed at stamping out the biggest contributors to road trauma would launch on December 15.
Police would focus on speed, impaired driving, fatigue, distraction, and vulnerable road users during the operation, and drivers should expect to be drug and alcohol tested.
Bendigo highway patrol had "gone rogue" and started their operation early, Senior Sergeant Brooks said.
"We're already targeting areas in Bendigo where people are gathering for Christmas parties and drinks," he said.
"And we are using every available resource to make sure we catch impaired drivers before they kill someone."
'The risk is that you kill someone on the way home'
Police noticed an increase in the number of drug and alcohol effected drivers on Bendigo roads in the months leading up to Christmas, Senior Sergeant Brooks said.
But drunk drivers getting behind the wheel of a car were wrong to think the biggest risk was "getting home without being caught", he said.
"The risk is that you kill someone on the way home."
Senior Sergeant Brooks challenged the community to not to give emergency services "any work to do this Christmas".
"Police, paramedics, firefighters, tow truck drivers, SES, they all go home to their families after going to a crash," he said.
"And I could think of nothing better then for [emergency services] to go home on Christmas and say, 'my day was good, nobody died'."
