By JESSE GRAHAM
MORE than 1000 drivers were caught speeding on Yarra Ranges roads over the holiday period, when police took to the streets in huge numbers as part of their Summer Stay campaign.
The Summer Stay campaign was made up of four different operations – Operation RAID (Remove All Impaired Drivers), Operation Breakup, Operation Crossroads and Operation Fresh Start – each focusing on a different area of dangerous driving behaviours.
Beginning on 14 November, the final operation wound up on 4 January, and Victoria Police’s provisional results of the campaign showed 1027 drivers caught for speeding offences in the Yarra Ranges alone.
Drink driving was one of the primary dangerous behaviours in the crosshairs through Operation RAID, and 62 drivers were issued with drink-driving infringements over the entire campaign.
Meanwhile, 112 drivers were caught using their mobile phones while driving, 86 people were caught travelling without their seat belts and 54 others were found driving while disqualified or suspended.
Police also rounded up 54 unlicensed drivers, 158 unregistered vehicles, 53 drivers disobeying signs or signals and impounded five vehicles.
One notable example found its way onto the Yarra Ranges Eyewatch Facebook Page, which is run by Victoria Police.
Yarra Ranges Highway Patrol Leading Senior Constable Graeme Rust posted that police pulled over a 20-year-old Mooroolbark man after he was caught driving at 104 km/h in a 60km/h zone in Seville.
After pulling him over, police discovered that the driver only had a Learner’s Permit and was travelling without any plates displayed or another driver in the car.
“His car was impounded under the hoon laws and he will face Ringwood Magistrates’ Court for trying to evade police, speeding and other traffic matters,” Leading Sen Const Rust wrote.
Road Policing Assistant Commissioner Robert Hill said while the campaign had finished, the road safety message stayed the same.
“The results show we are catching many dangerous drivers before it is too late, however there are still far too many people putting their life and the lives of others at risk,” he said.
“If everyone stays alert, sober and within the speed limit then we will take a major step towards our goal of zero deaths and serious injuries on the road.”
Yarra Ranges Highway Patrol Sergeant John Morgan spoke to the Mail late last year and said that local police would have a number of their own operations running over the same period and through the coming months.
Operation Surreptitious, for example, will run until May along the Black Spur and Reefton Spur, where police will be targeting drivers and motorcycle riders speeding along the popular roads.
Despite many being caught doing the wrong thing on the roads over the holiday period, the road toll in the Yarra Ranges dropped by three deaths between 2013 and 2014, with five deaths recorded last year.
This is in contrast to the state-wide road toll, which rose from 243 to 248 in the same period, after a decline that saw 2013 with the lowest road toll on record.
The Mail contacted Yarra Ranges Highway Patrol for comment on the Summer Stay campaign and the road toll, but no response was received by deadline.
