Hundreds caught in road blitz

By Esther Lauaki

Wyndham racked up the fourth highest number of traffic offences in the state during an Easter long weekend road blitz.

Speeding, unregistered vehicles and not wearing a seatbelt made up the majority of the total 426 offences detected in Wyndham during the five-day operation.

Brimbank topped the state for the number of offences (1025) committed during Victoria Police’s Operation Nexus, followed by Moreland (1009) and Whitehorse (588).

Police nabbed 132 speedsters, 50 driving unregistered, 41 without seatbelts, 26 unlicensed drivers as well as 21 who disobeyed traffic signals,

Another 20 drink drivers were picked up in Wyndham and 12 returned positive readings for drugs.

Road Police Command Assistant Commissioner Stephen Leane said anyone who breaks the law on Victorian roads had the potential to cause devastation.

“Every driving offence, be it speeding, drink or drug driving, or failure to wear seatbelts, can take a life in a split second,” Assistant Commissioner Leane said.

“Every person that gets behind the wheel of a car needs to realise this and accept the responsibility they have to ensure that they themselves and the motorists they share the road with get home safely.

“Police will continue to have a strong presence on the roads … and we will be working hard to ensure the tragedies we have seen during Easter are not repeated.”

There were 11,674 offences detected statewide.

Speeding topped the list of detected offences with 4221 drivers caught over the limit. Alarmingly, 3130 drivers were found to be exceeding the speed limit by 10-25km/h.

Operation Nexus ran from 12.01am on Thursday, April 18 until 11.59pm Monday, April 22.