Casey Highway Patrol Acting Senior Sergeant Scott Roberts will be helping to enforce the Summer Stay road enforcement campaign in the City of Casey over the next couple of months. 43766
By Bridget Cook
CASEY residents can expect an increased police presence on the roads from tomorrow as police launch a crackdown on all road users to help them stay safe this summer.
This week Victoria Police launched the Summer Stay road enforcement campaign which will kick off tomorrow and run through to 8 January.
Police will have a commanding presence across the local roads in a bid to limit road trauma throughout the high-risk summer period – enforcing the message ‘stay alert, stay sober, stay within the limit and stay alive’.
Casey Highway Patrol Acting Senior Sergeant Scott Roberts said while Summer Stay was a state-wide campaign, police would be enforcing it in the Casey area.
“Effectively we will be running three operations over the coming months,” he said.
“We are committed locally to remove all impaired drivers from the roads. We will hold large-scale drink driving operations in the area.
“The detection rate is pretty high these days but with additional resources coming in to to help the local police people are more likely to get caught.”
Acting Sen Sgt Roberts said the Casey area would be particularly supplemented by state police resources to carry out the operations as the area was in the top six of the state for road trauma.
He said he hoped that the Summer Stay campaign would help keep the road toll down over the Christmas period in Casey. “Last Christmas period was a bad one for Casey with at least five fatalities in the area,” he said.
“We are entering a high-risk season, the weather’s getting warmer and people are more prone to jumping behind the wheel after end of year parties and celebrations. My biggest message to those drivers is that their actions are selfish and to have some empathy for other road users. Do not get behind the wheel after drinking.”
Every local police officer will have a focus on road safety as part of the campaign.
Motorists can expect to be breath-tested, speed-checked and monitored by police throughout the next 52 days, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The launch comes after a devastating two weeks on Victorian roads in which 16 people have been killed. So far this year, 14 people have been killed in the Division Three area which encompasses the Casey, Cardinia and Dandenong Police Service Areas.
Police will be running a number of lock-down operations over the next couple of months as part of the camping.
Operation RAID (Remove All Impaired Drivers) is a state-wide operation which has a focus on alcohol and drug affected drivers.
Operation Aegis XI will focus on alcohol, drugs, speed, fatigue and distraction and Operation Crossroads, which will run throughout the critical Christmas week, with particular focus on holiday driving.
Local residents can expect to see state-level resources being used to enforce the road rules in the area with State Highway Patrol working in high-risk road trauma PSAs, automated number plate recognition systems being used, the road policing drug and alcohol section will be conducting large-scale drug and alcohol testing and the Operations Response Unit will focus on catching drink drivers on back roads and side streets who may be avoiding booze buses.
