OPERATION West Connect saw highway patrol units enforcing across major arterials in Western Victoria targeting high-risk driving behaviour associated with road trauma.

It comes as 141 lives have been lost on the state’s roads so far this year, with 35 of those occurring on roads in Western Victoria.

Operation West Connect is an ongoing operation focused on detecting speeding, distracted and impaired drivers.

60 per cent of offences detected in June were for speeding, with two thirds of speeding drivers detected between 10 kilometres an hour and 25km/h over the speed limit.

Police ran 338 preliminary breath tests and 50 preliminary oral fluid tests for drugs, detecting three drug driving offences and two drink driving offences.

The total 165 offences detected during Operation West Connect on Friday, June 28 included:

• 100 speeding offences

• 20 unregistered vehicles

• Eight disqualified/suspended and unlicenced drivers

• Four heavy vehicle offences

• Three drug driving offences from 50 roadside drug tests

• Two drink driving offences from 338 preliminary breath tests

• Two mobile phone offences

• Two seatbelt offences

• One vehicle impoundment

• One disobey traffic signal

Western Region Road Policing Inspector, Justine Ryan said despite road trauma being down in the region compared to last year, “35 lives lost is still far too many, and we know first-hand the ripple effect this has across our communities”.

“Operation West Connect is just one road policing initiative we’ve implemented to help keep all road users safe on roads out in the state’s west,” she said.