By NATALIE GALLENTI-BREKALO
POLICE have already detected almost 500 traffic offences across Melton this summer as part of a two-month blitz of Victoria’s roads.
The Summer Stay road enforcement campaign was launched on 15 November 2013 and ended last Monday week.
Statistics revealed Melton police nabbed 15 disqualified drivers and 18 unlicensed drivers during the road blitz.
Twenty-seven people were detected travelling 25 km over the speed limited with a whopping 139 caught travelling at 10 to 25km an hour over the limit.
There were 19 seatbelt offences, 10 mobile offences and 49 unregistered vehicles were detected.
A staggering 62,630 motorists were breath tested.
Across the state, more than 79,000 traffic offences were detected.
Tragically five people lost their lives on Victoria’s roads during the Christmas road toll period, which ran from 23 December to 3 January – five less than during the same period last year.
Road Policing Command Superintendent Neville Taylor said it was disappointing that some people continued to take unacceptable risks on the roads and flout the law.
“That’s completely unacceptable and it’s incredibly disappointing to find that there are still people in our community who are taking huge risks on the road, endangering their own lives and the lives of others,” he said.
Supt Taylor said speed is a killer and a major factor in about a third of collisions each year.
“Low-level speeding can be just as dangerous as high-level speeding and research shows that your risk of being involved in a collision doubles for every 5km an hour over the speed limit you are in a 60km zone.
“Speeding reduces the time drivers have to avoid crashes, their ability to control their vehicle and lengthens the time it takes to stop.”
Melton Police Inspector Stephen Mutton also warned motorists to take care on the road and said the holiday period was a particularly busy time with more pedestrian traffic.
Insp Mutton said another issue that motorists and car owners needed to remain aware of is thefts from motor vehicles.
He said thefts continued to be a problem throughout the municipality and urged drivers to secure valuable items and remove them from their vehicle.
“We’re still getting a high number of thefts,” Insp Mutton told Star.
“People need to secure their items… it’s a big issue for us.”
