THERE is set to be more travellers on the roads in the Mallee region this weekend as regional Victoria opens up to metropolitan Melbourne.
With Victoria hitting the 80 per cent vaccination milestone, police anticipate an influx of travellers to regional areas and hotspots.
With increased traffic and long driving hours this long weekend, combined with a deterioration in driving skills, police are urging motorists to slow down and take care on the roads.
Eleven lives were lost on Victorian roads last year when lockdown lifted and police are determined to avoid a repeat, so throughout the long weekend they are running Operation Compass.
The operation will see police members targeting speed, distraction, fatigue and impaired driving in high-risk areas, and will be highly visible on major arterial freeways and highways.
Operation Compass runs statewide in two phases from Friday at 12.01am to Tuesday at 11.59pm, then from 12.01am on Friday, November 5 to 11.59pm on Sunday, November 7.
It will involve all available personnel across Victoria Police including regional Highway Patrols, State Highway Patrol, Heavy Vehicle Unit, Road Policing Drug and Alcohol Section and Public Order Response Team.
This year, there have been 190 lives lost on Victorian roads – well above the 178 deaths for the same time last year.
Following the recent easing of restrictions in regional Victoria there were at least four fatal collisions in five days and several injury collisions where drink driving was suspected.
Police are urging Victorians enjoying end of lockdown celebrations to think twice before drinking and getting behind the wheel.
Assistant Commissioner of Road Policing Glenn Weir said Victorians have done a fantastic job in the fight against COVID-19.
But that time in lockdown has impaired driving skills.
“The coming fortnight is a perfect storm on our roads,” AC Weir said.
“Many of us haven’t driven long distances for months.
“Our skills have deteriorated and there’s going to be an enormous amount of traffic as people escape the city and head to regional Victoria.”
AC Weir said people would see police about in highway patrol cars, drug and alcohol buses, on motorbikes and in frontline patrol units.
“Please, help us make this time memorable for all the right reasons,” he said.
“Road trauma is preventable, and we don’t want to see anybody else become an unnecessary statistic.”
