Elsie Lange
Over the Easter weekend, there were more than 60 speeding offences recorded in the Macedon Ranges during Victoria Police’s Operation Compass.
Police are undertaking the operation to increase road safety over the Easter and Anzac Day long weekends.
In just four days, between April 14 to 18, there were 61 speeding offences recorded in the ranges, an increase of 12 on last year’s overall figures.
One speeding offence included the driver caught allegedly travelling more than 140km/h over the speed limit on the Calder Freeway – 250km/h in a 110km/h zone at Woodend.
There were other increases on last year, including six instances of drivers disobeying signs/signals, compared to just one last year, and three mobile phone offences, compared to zero last year.
Senior Sergeant Amanda Cohen, of Gisborne Police Station, said in light of the increase in speeding offences, she would like to remind the community to slow down as speed is a major contributor to road trauma.
“Operation Compass phase two will continue over the Anzac Day long weekend from 12:01am Friday, April 22 until 23:59pm on Monday, April 25,” Senior Sergeant Cohen said.
“Major focus will continue to be on impaired driving, speed, fatigue, distraction offences and seatbelt compliance.”
Speaking to the recent figures, Acting Sergeant Dwayne Sharam from the Macedon Ranges Highway Patrol reiterated the need for drivers to be more mindful, and drive to conditions.
“We seem to be seeing a lot of those offences occurring on local roads, which are in poor condition and not up to those sorts of speeds we’re seeing,” Sergeant Sharam said.
“I hope that people will get the message and drive more carefully, slow down, take some care and some time to where they’re going.
“They don’t need to get there in a hurry, we’d certainly prefer they get there safe and in one piece, rather than becoming a statistic,” he said.
