Cranbourne Police’s new TMU motorbike officer Senior Constable Glen Zino, Senior Sergeant Cecily Allan and Senior Sergeant Bruce Kitchen are taking a tough stance on traffic offences in the Cranbourne area. Picture: Stewart Chambers.
By Sarah Schwager
CRANBOURNE Police are taking action to stop the carnage on Cranbourne’s roads.
Cranbourne Senior Sergeant Bruce Kitchen said police would take a zero tolerance approach on all traffic offences after last week’s shocking double fatality in Lynbrook.
All of this year’s fatalities in Casey have occurred on Cranbourne roads, while nine of last year’s 11 road deaths occurred in the Cranbourne area.
“It’s not just fatalities, it’s high speed collisions as well,” Sen Sgt Kitchen said.
“We have more 80km/h and 100km/h zones and more open highways than other councils. Some of the community has become a bit lacklustre to the way they drive on the roads.”
There have been seven road deaths in the Cranbourne response zone – from Hampton Park and Lynbrook to Clyde and the coastal villages – so far this year.
Sen Sgt Kitchen said with the onset of winter, rain and slippery roads, now was the time to take the tough stance.
“Up until now it’s been at the discretion of the individual (police) members to warn people who have committed minor traffic offences, but that obviously hasn’t worked,” he said.
Such offences include using a mobile phone while driving, not displaying P-plates and failing to obey stop signs.
To curb the number of crashes in Cranbourne, senior police last week permanently relocated a Traffic Management Unit (TMU) police motorcycle to Cranbourne Police Station in the wake of Casey’s rising road toll, and will also increase road patrols, extend speed camera operator hours and increase booze bus operations.
Cranbourne police are also launching a three-week operation this Sunday called Operation Spare, which will focus purely on traffic offences in the Cranbourne area.
The move at Cranbourne Police Station came after Casey’s most senior police officer last week called for an end to the bloodshed on local roads.
Inspector Bob Hill said police were sick of the blatant disregard some motorists were showing towards road safety, and called on all motorists to take a good look at their driving behaviour.
“Enough is enough. The road deaths have to stop,” Insp Hill said.
“People just do not seem to realise that they aren’t invincible and always think it will never happen to them.
“But road trauma and fatalities do happen, and it has already happened seven times too many on Casey roads this year.”
Insp Hill said police continued to be appalled by some of the ridiculous examples of driver behaviour they continued to be confronted with on a daily basis.
“People just don’t understand the trauma road fatalities inflict on their families and friends and the lifelong disabilities and horrific injuries people endure when they do happen to survive these crashes,” Insp Hill said.
“We are doing everything we can, but people need to take responsibility for their actions.
“If they want to break the road rules they will face steep fines, loss of demerit points, a possible loss of licence but most tragically the possible loss of their own life or someone else’s.”
