In a major 10-week police operation, 281 Brimbank motorists – about four per day – were caught using their mobile phones while driving.
In the March 31 to June 13 Operation Buckley 2, police targeted two of the region’s busiest roads – Taylors and Main roads in St Albans – and fined the 281 drivers. A further 175 drivers were fined for failing to wear a seatbelt, while 12 cars were impounded.
Inspector Simon Stevens said the results were “really disappointing”.
“Distracted driving continues to be a major cause of injury on our roads. Our community needs to accept it’s a risk and understand we will continue our efforts to detect them.”
Another campaign, dubbed Operation Sunrise, netted 47 Brimbank drivers who were either over .05 or had drugs in their system.This operation, which ran between April 12 and June 7 and targeted mostly night driving on major roads, pulled up 243 drivers for 264 offences, including 50 for speeding, 49 for driving unregistered vehicles, 31 for driving while disqualified, and 21 for using mobile phones. Nine vehicles were impounded.
“Drink and drug-driving remain one of the biggest killers on our roads,” Inspector Stevens said. “We focused on major roads, including Ballarat Road which will remain a major focus for us in relation to collisions.”
He said there had been reductions in serious injury (by 42.1 per cent) and total collisions (17.2 per cent) for the first five months of the year.
Star Weekly reported last month that two pedestrians in their 50s died within days of each other in May after being struck on Ballarat Road.
