Hume District Police will be running several operations with highway patrol and Roads and Maritime Services over the coming month that will target known hot spots, and conduct random breath testing and drug testing. 

“Traffic accidents with injuries and fatalities ramp up during the seasonal period,” District Police Inspector Alison Brennan said.

“This is about prevention, if one person we charge prevents a fatality its worth 1000 charges,” Inspector Brennan said. 

“No one likes to get a fine but if you posed the question [to someone would it be worth it] if it saved someone’s life?”

In 2018, in the Hume area there have been 177 drink driving charges and 71 people have tested positive for drugs, this is around one in ten people that have been tested, Inspector Brennan said. Although, this is police on general duties, if this included highway patrol statistics it would be significantly higher, she added. 

To date, in 2018 there have been 333 people killed in road accidents, and road safety statistics showed that drink driving is a factor in about one in every seven crashes in NSW where someone loses their life.

“We are targeting back roads that people use to drive home – those can end in fatalities.”

“There is a misconception that they won’t be detected by police.”

Police have been targeting rural roads under Operation Chrome, “any offences that are caused by dangerous driving.”

On Friday December 14, police will conduct a traffic operation that will see a heavy police presence focusing on traffic offences, and Operation Safe Arrival would run from mid-December.