HOLIDAYMAKERS and those travelling to see family and friends this Christmas will see an increased police presence as officers target the main causes for road accidents during Operation Roadwise.

The state-wide road operation commenced last Friday and will run until 11:59pm on Tuesday, December 27, with police out on major arterial roads and highways to target impaired and dangerous driving.

Hamilton Police Highway Patrol sergeant, Darren Smart, said local police would be “highly visible” on the roads this festive season to “reinforce positive driving behaviours and lessen the incidences of road trauma”.

“It’ll be personnel from Highway Patrol and all the general duties stations around including the outstations like Coleraine, Balmoral, and Dunkeld,” he said. 

“We’ll be testing for alcohol and drugs to try and avoid impaired driving, there will also be a lot of radar use - checking speeds to make sure people are complying with speed limits.

“A big factor is fatigue which we can’t really test for, but we hope the increased presence will make them switch on and pay attention.

“We’re also targeting distractions like looking for mobile phones, and not wearing seatbelts.”

Sgt Smart said locally the operation had already seen some dangerous drivers taken off the road due to “poor decision making”. 

“Just from our office in the last three or four days we’ve had at least three speeds detected at a loss of licence speed - which is more than 25 kilometres over the speed limit,” he said.

“One was a learner rider on his motorbike doing 45km over the speed limit … 105km/h in a 60km/h zone.

“That’s not what we like to see and the penalties for that are very high - a six-month loss of licence and a fine.

“We’ll be making sure everyone’s doing the right things so everyone can enjoy Christmas and New Years and it’s not a time to remember the loss of loved ones on our roads.”

Coleraine Police sergeant, Shaun McCulloch, said a local water operation also started last weekend and will run until near the end of January, with officers from several stations around the region on board.

“We’ve started a multi-agency joint operation with members from Balmoral, Cavendish and Coleraine stations, as well as Hamilton Highway Patrol, local Criminal Investigation Units, and water police, coinciding with members from Parks Victoria and DELWP,” he said.

“We will be targeting unsociable and erratic behaviour in and around the water at Rocklands and surrounds.

“People can expect to see more police presence and activity around the water, including water police, boats, and jet skis.

“We are expecting an influx of tourists this year ... we are not intending to be the fun police but want people to enjoy these terrific facilities in our backyard.”

While the local water operation is separate from Operation Roadwise, they both share the same message of making sure people are having fun and enjoying the Christmas season while staying safe.

Operation Roadwise comes as the number of lives lost in Victoria this year has reached 240 as of December 22, already surpassing last year’s total of 234 and sitting well above the five-year average of 221.