By Jesse Graham
BE AWARE of other drivers and know if you’re ready to get behind the wheel, is the warning from the Yarra Ranges Highway Patrol, with police to hit the streets during the Australia Day long weekend.
On Sunday, 8 January, Victoria Police officially wound up Operation Roadwise – an operation focusing risk-taking behaviour, such as speeding and drink and drug driving, that began on 16 December.
In the Yarra Ranges, 256 people were caught speeding, while 18 people were caught for drink driving and another 21 were caught for driving under the influence of drugs.
Yarra Ranges Highway Patrol Acting Sergeant, Graeme Rust, said that overall motorists “were quite well behaved” over the holiday period.
He said a random breath test site set up in Mooroolbark on New Year’s Day saw no people caught drink or drug driving.
“That was quite pleasing to see,” he said.
“Some of the drink-driving statistics have not been as high as they have been in the past, (but) our drug driving … there are still some issues there.
“Drug driving is more prevalent than drink-driving, and that is being shown by our guys here in their detection rates.”
Act Sgt Rust said that many people were caught with drugs in their system days after taking them, because the chemicals lingered in the body for longer than alcohol, and that it was illegal for a driver to have traces in their system.
“There was a lot of people who said, ‘Look, I had it two days ago’, but the thing is, it’s still showing up in their system,” he said.
“If they really want to look after their licences, they have to curtail their drug use, and probably not even get behind the wheel of a car, because the likelihood nowadays of being stopped and tested for it, in and around the Yarra Ranges, is about one in every four drivers.”
During Operation Roadwise, 92 unregistered vehicles were detected by police, along with 43 disqualified or unlicensed drivers.
Act Sgt Rust said the onus was on drivers to ensure their registration was up to date, to avoid being charged and fined, and recommended vehicle owners set reminders for their renewal.
“A lot of people say they don’t receive the renewal notices and due to the fact there’s no registration labels, they say they’d forgotten about it – some people change their address and don’t notify VicRoads,” he said.
“Still, it is incumbent upon the owner of the vehicle – and for the drivers – to ensure the vehicle they’re in is registered.”
Act Sgt Rust said another operation would begin on Wednesday, 25 January, and run through the Australia Day weekend, focusing on the same risk-taking and dangerous behaviour.
Ahead of the weekend, Act Sgt Rust urged drivers to be aware and respectful of one another – especially on dangerous, narrow roads such as the highway up the Black Spur near Healesville.
He said that over the holiday period, a driver was travelling along the spur behind a car doing between 50-60km/h in an 80km/h zone and overtook them at 113km/h.
The driver was caught by police, and Act Sgt Rust said they faced losing their licence as a result.
“It’s a common courtesy to obviously be checking your mirrors as you’re driving and, if you notice there’s a build-up of traffic behind you, take the opportunity to utilise those slow traffic pull-out areas and let that traffic go,” he said.
“They (other drivers) become frustrated – they shouldn’t become frustrated, they should be patient enough to be aware of these situations and plan their trips accordingly, but also the other people need to take into account there are other people using the road, other than themselves.”
Act Sgt Rust said drivers should be aware of fatigue and make sure they rest before long drives, and take regular breaks, to reduce the risk of a crash.
“Fatigue can also be just as bad as a high range drink driving,” he said.
