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Easter Safety Blitz Snares Thousands Of Victorian Drivers

Police road safety blitzes during holiday periods are pretty much ‘a given’ these days, but despite our nation’s law enforcers constantly reminding us to drive safely, motorists in holiday mode continue to flout road rules and common sense.
The national


Police road safety blitzes during holiday periods are pretty much 'a given' these days, but despite our nation's law enforcers constantly reminding us to drive safely, motorists in holiday mode continue to flout road rules and common sense.

The national death toll for the Easter long weekend officially stands at 15, with Victoria experiencing just one road death - the lowest figure recorded since 1999.

However Victorian police are astounded at the number of drivers caught breaking the law during the period, with almost 5000 nabbed for speeding offences alone.

Nearly 13,000 traffic offences were recorded over the long weekend, with 4950 drivers caught speeding, 632 drink-driving, 762 talking on their mobile phones, 704 driving while unlicensed or disqualified, 696 with passengers not wearing seatbelts and 15 drivers caught driving under the influence of drugs.

Superintendent Kevin Casey expressed disappointment at the high number of law-breaking drivers.

“The good story is that 12 months ago we had four people die, this year we’ve only had one person who has died," Casey said.

“The not-so-good story is that we did catch a lot of people. On the weekend, there were people caught over 200km/h and people caught over five times the legal limit."

Casey also broached the topic of instituting a double-demerits system for holiday periods, a tactic that has been used with success in other states.

“Double demerit points has been implemented across several states in Australia, there has been a lot of research in relation to it and generally my understanding is that there is a high level of community acceptance for double demerit points."

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