More than 4900 offences were detected during a major road safety effort over the King’s Birthday long weekend.

Operation Regal saw police targeting high-risk driving behaviour across the state over four days to drive down road trauma.

One man was allegedly almost three times the legal limit while driving on Monday, June 10.

Victoria police observed a white Ford wagon driving down Malcolm Cres, Shepparton when they intercepted the 55-year-old man.

He allegedly recorded a blood alcohol concentration of 0.144.

His driver’s licence was suspended, and his vehicle was impounded at a cost of $1075.

He will receive a summons to attend Shepparton Magistrates’ Court at a later date.

The number of infringements issued by police increased eight per cent on the same period last year, with speeding making up 40 per cent of all offences detected.

Police conducted 107,025 preliminary breath tests across the state, with one in every 541 motorists tested caught drink-driving.

A further 147 drivers returned a positive roadside drug test, with 2263 tests conducted.

There were two lives lost over the long weekend in Victoria.

The weekend’s fatalities bring the total lives lost to 126 in Victoria, with motorcyclist fatalities increasing to 33 from 19 at the same time last year.

Pedestrian fatalities have doubled to 20 from 10 at the same time last year.

“It was very disappointing that we detected so many people disregarding the road rules over the long weekend, especially considering there was some fairly poor weather to contend with,” Road Policing Assistant Commissioner Glenn Weir said.

“It is much harder to avoid a collision in wet weather if you’re speeding, distracted or driving while impaired, and yet we caught so many people taking those risks.

“It only takes one poor decision and a split second to cause a tragedy, and yet we’ve seen far too much of that on our roads this year.”

Police will remain highly visible on the roads across the state, with targeted operations to take place over the coming weeks focusing on vulnerable road user safety.

Operation Regal ran from 12.01am Friday, June 7 until 11.59pm on Monday, June 10.

Statewide offences detected during Operation Royal

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Friday, 24th May 2024

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