Ash Bolt
Easter is here and with families getting ready to enjoy their Easter eggs and get away for the long weekend, Geelong Police are urging everyone to stay safe on the roads.
The Geelong Police Eyewatch Facebook shared police would be running Operation Compass over the Easter and ANZAC Day long weekends to ensure families made it to their destinations safely.
“The combination of school holidays and two consecutive long weekends is shaping up to create a dangerous period on Victoria’s roads, with hordes of drivers set to take advantage of the extended breaks and head to holiday destinations across the state,” police said.
“As these long weekends are the last pre-winter, they will be utilised for holiday travel and police intelligence suggests that this is a high-risk time.
“Statewide road policing Operation Compass will be conducted … to address the increased risk of road trauma.
“The major focus for [Operation Compass] will be on impaired driving, speed, fatigue, distraction offences and seat belt compliance.
“The aim, in addition to detecting offences, is to provide highly visible police activity and enforcement to reinforce positive driving behaviours and lessen the incidence of road trauma.”
Operation Compass will run from Thursday, April 14 to Monday, April 18 and Friday, April 22 to Monday, April 25.
Statewide last month had the lowest number of lives lost in Marc on record and police are warning motorists not to be complacent during April.
There have been 11 lives lost already this month around Victoria, including five fatalities which occurred over the first weekend of the school holidays.
Police are anticipating widespread travel across the state and will be targeting areas deemed high-risk.
Motorists travelling to regional areas will be a focus, with fatalities on regional roads up almost 40 per cent on last year.
Police issued more than 9000 infringements over a five-day Easter operation in 2021 and will again be on the lookout for speeding and impaired drivers.
“Easter is a high-risk period on our roads – it’s a major holiday weekend that attracts significant travel across the state,” Road policing assistant commissioner Glenn Weir said.
“We cannot be complacent. Just last weekend there were five fatalities on Victorian roads. This follows a record low number of lives lost for March, which just shows how easily trauma can occur if we don’t all make road safety a priority.
“We’ll be doing everything we can to prevent more lives being lost – expect to see lots of police, lots of police vehicles and plenty of alcohol and drug testing during this period”.
