Police have detected 101 heavy vehicle offences throughout July during a major road policing operation targeting truckies heading to Victoria’s alpine areas.
Operation Eastern Snow has seen police highly visible and enforcing, with a particular focus on roads heading to and from snowfields including Mt Buller, Falls Creek and Mount Hotham.
Heavy vehicles were a major focus of the operation, with almost 20 per cent of offences detected issued to trucks.
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Throughout the blitz, police cited false and misleading log book entries, overloaded vehicles and failing to secure loads made up the majority of penalties.
“It’s concerning that we’ve seen such high levels of noncompliance on the roads by motorists travelling to and from the snowfields,” eastern region road policing inspector Jarrad Dowswell says.
“Some of these roads have been significantly impacted by ice and snow in recent weeks, yet we continue to catch people for speeding and engaging in dangerous behaviours that puts all road users at risk.”
Police detected 247 speeding offences, with the majority of these issued to drivers speeding between 10km/h and 25km/h over the speed limit.
There were two drug driving offences detected from 148 roadside drug tests and pleasingly, no drink driving offences were detected from 1,149 preliminary breath tests.
The total 523 offences detected during Operation Eastern Snow in July included:
• 247 speeding offences;
• 101 heavy vehicle offences;
• 45 unregistered vehicles;
• 45 defect notices;
• 11 disqualified/suspended and unlicenced drivers;
• 8 seatbelt offences;
• 2 drug driving offences from 148 roadside drug tests;
• 2 mobile phone offences
With the operation set to continue throughout August, police are reminding motorists travelling to the snow to slow down, remain alert on unfamiliar roads and allow plenty of extra travel time, especially during busy periods.
“Operation Eastern Snow will continue throughout August and we’ll continue to have a major presence on roads heading to and from Victorian snowfields,” Dowswell says.
“It’s been great to receive feedback from locals in these communities that our enforcement efforts have had a positive impact, with majority of vehicles travelling more slowly through towns and adhering to the road rules.”
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