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Vic: Road Toll Rises By 7 Over Weekend, Crackdown On Unauthorised Drivers

Victoria has come through a horror weekend with seven vehicle fatalities, bringing the state's 2011 toll to 45. 

Three people died in Gippsland on Friday morning, after a vehicle collided with a power pole at around 1:00am, killing its 19-


Victoria has come through a horror weekend with seven vehicle fatalities, bringing the state's 2011 toll to 45. 

Three people died in Gippsland on Friday morning, after a vehicle collided with a power pole at around 1:00am, killing its 19-year-old driver and 21-year-old passenger. 

Hours later, a third death came in Leongatha when a 25-year-old woman lost control and collided with a concrete power pole.

In Ballarat, a 21-year-old police recruit died in a two-car collision on Friday night. The circumstances of the accident have not been revealed.

Two motorcyclists died on Saturday, with a 66-year-old man hitting a tree after his motorcycle left the road near Wallan. The second man died when his quad bike hit a tree in Darley, near Bacchus Marsh.

The last death came yesterday when a third motorcyclist, a 64-year-old man riding on the wrong side of the road, collided with a vehicle coming from the opposite direction. The occupants of the car were not injured.

Victoria's road toll stands at 45, compared to 55 for the same period last year.

Victoria Police Cracking Down On Unauthorised Drivers

Unauthorised drivers are the target for Victoria Police this week as the force cracks down on unlicensed, suspended or disqualified drivers in Melbourne's North Western suburbs.

Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology will be used by police to scan thousands of vehicles during the five-day Operation Alchemy.

The Sheriffs Department will be checking for outstanding warrants, and Environmental Protection Authority officers will be checking vehicles emitting harmful levels of smoke or noise.

“Unlicensed, suspended or disqualified drivers statistically have a greater chance of being involved in road trauma and we are fortunate to have this technology on hand to assist in removing these drivers from the road,” Acting Inspector Ross Burbridge said.

“It is a tool that allows police to effectively and efficiently remove motorists who are doing the wrong thing on our roads, without interrupting the travel of regular motorists and those doing the right thing.”

“We are not revealing the exact location of where we will be, but are issuing the warning to any motorists driving unlicensed, or with a disqualified or suspended licence, that we will be scanning thousands of cars and they will be caught.”

Victoria Police rolled out ANPR systems across the entire state over Summer, scanning number plates on-the-move and identifying unauthorised drivers, including those unlicensed or disqualified from driving and with expired or defective registration.

The database alerts operators when an unauthorised driver is detected who immediately notify police vehicles working in tandem with the system.

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