Extra police to target drivers

YARRA Junction police will be targetting drink drivers over the summer months thanks to a grant from the Traffic Accident Commission (TAC).
Sergeant Kevin Largue said he applied for the funding, a statewide initiative by TAC, to run extra shifts in the Upper Yarra area.
“It means I can afford to put members on overtime for extra patrol shifts specifically targetting road safety and in particular drink-driving over summer,” he said.
Sgt Largue said the extra patrols which started on the weekend were focused on the Upper Yarra area, but other Yarra Ranges stations, including Yarra Ranges Traffic Management Unit which operates throughout Yarra Ranges shire, had also been successful.
Sgt Largue also said an accord launched in August last year to implement bans on violent or serial troublemakers in licensed venues was also working well.
Six hotels, the Woori Yallock, Home Hotel at Launching Place, Cunninghams at Yarra Junction, the Sam Knott at Wesburn, the Alpine at Warburton and the Reefton Hotel, Upper Yarra RSL and the Powelltown Store signed on for the pilot program.
Venue operators and police said at the time any blanket ban would relate only to “serious infractions” and agreed it was seen as a practical and enforceable way of dealing with an ongoing problem.
Sgt Largue said about a dozen people had since been permanently banned from all the participating venues.
“That’s a significant impact when you consider the bans are so widespread over all the hotels and to date they have virtually been exclusively indefinite bars, a decision driven by the publicans,” he said.