OPERATION Arid, the long weekend police operation targeting impaired and dangerous driving, came to an end Tuesday morning after police detected almost 7000 traffic offences across the state.

The four-day effort saw police ramp up enforcement following a shocking start to the year on Victorian roads that saw 74 lives lost in the first 73 days of 2023 - 45 per cent higher than the same time last year and the five-year average (both at 51 lives lost).

Across the state, a total of 6764 offences were detected including 2573 speeding offences, 727 unregistered vehicles, and 396 disqualified/suspended or unlicensed drivers which were detected using Automated Number Plate Recognition Technology (ANPR).

Almost 80 per cent of speeding motorists detected in Operation Arid were travelling at speeds between 10-25 kilometres per hour over the speed limit.

Hamilton Highway Patrol sergeant, Darren Smart, said locally officers were “happy that we didn’t have any major road trauma on our local roads”, however, there was still some discouraging behaviour observed.

“What is disappointing is we are noticing more and more - and it was really magnified over the long weekend - people travelling at excessive speeds,” he said.

“I’m certainly not saying they are from local drivers, but we were seeing higher speeds overall.

“Over the long weekend in particular, it was mainly travellers travelling through the area which is of concern - it is difficult for our office to educate people not to do it if they’re not from here.

“It seems to be a bit of a trend that is occurring that people are sitting at those higher speeds when travelling those longer distances.”

Sgt Smart said it was important to reinforce the message to road users that travelling at excessive speeds can not only put themselves but others at risk.

“The higher the speed the more likelihood of a collision and the greater the effect of the collision such as the damage and injuries sustained,” he said.

Locally, Sgt Smart said there was “not a great deal” of drink and drug drivers detected over the long weekend, however, anyone found behind the wheel while impacted by substances was a bad result.

“On Sunday, our unit did get a drink driver at a PBT (preliminary breath testing) site that we had set up on Ballarat Road, once again not a local,” he said.

“The reading was too high - certainly nothing that would break any records but high enough that it comes with a mandatory loss of licence.

“We did do a number of breath tests over the long weekend so to only get one we have to look at as a positive result - but one is still too many.

“Drug driving wise for the month has been pretty good, but we did get one person from the local area over the long weekend.”

The state also saw a rise in mobile phone offences with 323 people detected using their device behind the wheel - a 23 per cent increase compared to the last statewide operation in January.

While there were no deaths recorded in the south-west during Operation Arid, two lives were lost on Victorian roads after fatal collisions occurred in Barnawartha North last Saturday and Wangaratta on Monday.

Road Policing assistant commissioner, Glenn Weir, said most road users were doing the right thing, however, clearly the message was not getting through to some.

“Considering it was a long weekend, with high traffic volumes and good weather, we saw the majority of people doing the right thing on our roads,” he said.

“Disappointingly though, we continue to detect motorists for the type of behaviour that’s been contributing to road trauma this year - that being speed, distraction, and impaired driving.

“It is simply not good enough to just ignore the warnings - the reality is, there has been more lives lost on our roads than there have been days this year.

“Police are constantly engaging with the community to educate first and enforce when the message doesn’t get through and we make no apologies for this. We are doing everything we can to reduce trauma on our roads.”

While Operation Arid has now come to a close, Asst Comm Weir said police efforts to reduce road trauma would not stop and Victorians could expect to continue to see a strong police presence.

“March is a busy time with footy returning, lots of major events and good weather – so if you’re out and about this month, you can expect us to be out too,” he said.

There have been 11 lives lost to date in March, which is historically the highest-risk month on Victorian roads.