By Belinda Nolan
BADLY behaving bikies were among dozens of drivers caught breaking traffic laws during a six-day blitz of Brimbank’s roads.
More than 2800 drivers were breath-tested in the city as part of Operation Crossroads, an Australia-wide Easter crackdown.
Around 50 police officers were involved in the operation, devoting hundreds of man hours to keep Brimbank’s roads safe, with more than 90 offences detected.
More than 50 hoons were caught speeding, with police seizing several vehicles, including two motorbikes.
A 40-year-old St Albans man lost his licence and had his bike impounded after highway patrol police caught him doing 123 km/h in a 60km zone on Kings Rd, Taylors Lakes.
Another motorcyclist was clocked at 135 km/h in an 80km road works zone on the Calder Freeway. Police caught 19 people drink driving, nine disqualified drivers, and eight unlicensed drivers.
Five people were nabbed using their mobile phones while driving and eight not wearing seatbelts.
Brimbank Highway Patrol Sergeant Rod Stein said police were reasonably happy with the results but disappointed that some drivers continued to break the law.
“We are pleased that there were very few serious incidents but having said that two incidents involved very high speeds and we did have one collision. It would have been nice to have got through the operation with no serious incidents.”
Police removed more than 530 drink drivers from Victoria’s roads during the national operation, which began on 21 April and ran until last Tuesday.
A further 5700 people were caught speeding and 750 using their mobile phone while driving.
Acting Assistant Commissioner Neville Taylor who oversaw the operation said police would continue to fight to drive down the road toll long after the operation had ended.
