By BRIDGET COOK
CASEY Highway Patrol is taking a zero tolerance approach to ensure safety on local roads during the busy summer period.
Police this week kicked off Operation Summer Stay – a two-month blitz running from 15 November to 5 January to reduce road trauma over the high risk holiday season.
Casey Cardinia Highway Patrol Sergeant Allen Inderwisch said the operation would be implemented locally with police set to ramp up enforcement from this week.
“Highway Patrol members will be using marked and unmarked cars as well as motorcycles to conduct a variety of duties designed to reduce the incidents of road trauma over this period,” he said.
“Members will be targeting speeding offences, drink and drug impaired drivers, safety offences, such as failing to wear a seatbelt, and distraction offences, such as using a handheld mobile phone while driving.
“Police will be conducting mobile patrols, road blocks and random breath testing sites in order to detect offences.”
There will be four operations run as part of the Summer Stay campaign.
Speed, impaired driving, fatigue, driver distraction and seatbelt offences will be the focus of the campaign which begins on 15 November with Operation RAID (Remove All Impaired Drivers).
Operation Break-up, will be run from 9 to 23 December, which targets distraction and seatbelt offences pre-Christmas and then Operation Crossroads will start focusing on high risk factors associated with holiday driving during the Christmas and new year week.
Operation Fresh Start is the final element, to be run in early January, which will focus on fatigue with the return of people to work after their holiday break.
Sgt Inderwisch said people needed to be aware that if they do break the law then they should expect to be caught.
“Motorists need to be aware that police will be taking a zero tolerance approach and no excuses will be tolerated,” he said.
“Road safety is everyone’s responsibility.
“If you are involved in an accident that is caused by your poor driving then you need to realise that you could at best face a fine and at worse face jail time.”
