WITH football and netball finals underway, local police are targeting impaired driving as part of a four-month long road operation across the south-west.

Hamilton Highway Patrol worked alongside police from Casterton, Coleraine, Dunkeld and Balmoral last weekend to complete drug and alcohol tests throughout the Southern Grampians Shire, with Hamilton Highway Patrol sergeant, Darren Smart, saying he was pleased with the results.

“Despite a high number of tests over the weekend I am glad to say there was no one from that operation drink driving or on drugs,” he said.

“Obviously we’re always out there testing but this was a more targeted approach to tackling impaired driving.”

With a significant portion of the community preparing to celebrate the outcome of more football and netball finals tonight, Sgt Smart said locals could expect to see a greater police presence across the region.

“Obviously with the football finals we are making sure people are doing the right thing if they’re out celebrating or commiserating, whichever it may be,” he said.

“All through the south-west of Victoria between now and Christmas, drivers can expect to see an increased road traffic policing effort, and presence from police stations from the outlining towns such as Coleraine, Dunkeld and Casterton.

“There will be more PBT (preliminary breath test) sites and more intercepts, so if you’re in the vicinity of a licensed premises, such as pubs and also sporting precincts, you may be pulled over.

“Our focus is to try and deter people from driving after they have had too much to drink and if they are going to make that silly choice, then it is to detect those people before they can hurt themselves and other road users.”

Last month, police intercepted around 20 impaired drivers across the region, including a 24-year-old male in Hamilton who had a blood alcohol reading of 0.116, which is over double the legal limit.

With police seeing an increase in the number of young people caught drink driving, they are urging locals to consider alternative travel methods after celebrating tonight.

As the 2022 AFL Grand Final looms, Sgt Smart said local police would also be taking part in the four-day long Operation Scoreboard road blitz.  

“Hamilton Highway Patrol and the uniform stations around the area will be taking part in Operation Scoreboard 2022, which runs from Thursday, September 22 to Sunday, September 25,” he said.

“We will be targeting all traffic offences, but a major focus will be on excessive speed and impaired driving.

“We do get a lot of visitors to our region which is fantastic, but we need to make sure they are following the road rules.

“Obviously, fatigue is a big issue in this area too and it’s very hard to test for that, but if we’re out and about and pulling people over, it makes them realise they really need to be paying attention.”

Drink driving can carry serious penalties such as vehicle impoundment, licence cancellation, fines, or jail time.

So far 169 lives have been lost on Victorian roads this year, compared with 146 lives lost this time last year.

For more information and tips for staying safe on the roads, visit the Road Safety page on police.vic.gov.au/road-safety-0