While most states and territorities struggled through a horror Easter long weekend on the Australia’s roads, the Australian Capital Territory remained fatality-free over the holiday period.
The Operation Crossroads partnership between ACT Policing and NSW Police provided a highly visible police presence on our shared roads, targeting speeding, drink-driving and fatigue.
ACT Traffic Operations Superintendent Kylie Flower said that while she was pleased that no road trauma occurred, police were still disappointed at the high number of driving offences committed.Over the Easter period, 209 Traffic Infringement Notices (TINs) were issued for driving offences in the ACT compared with 119 over the same period last year. Three people provided preliminary drug samples that recorded positive readings. These samples have been sent to the laboratory for further analysis.
On Thursday (March 28) a 16-year-old boy was detected traveling at 160km/h on Adelaide Avenue, an 80km/h zone. He was fined a total of $2251 for speeding and unlicenced driving.
During Operation Crossroads, ACT Policing conducted 2434 breath tests, 17 returned a positive result. During the Easter holiday last year, 2849 tests were conducted with 18 positive results.On Thursday (March 28), a 51-year-old man was stopped at an RBT station in Woden and returned a positive result. He was conveyed to Woden Police Station where he recorded a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of 0.222.
The repeat drink-driver had his licence immediately suspended, and will be summonsed to the ACT Magistrates Court at a later date.
On Sunday (March 31) morning a 22-year-old Newtown man was detected driving erratically on Girrahween Street, Braddon. He returned a positive road-side breath test and was conveyed to City Police Station.
Whilst there, he refused to provide a sample of his breath for analysis. He has been summonsed to appear in ACT Magistrates Court on April 16. The offence of ‘Refuse to provide a sample of breath for analysis’ carries a maximum punishment of ($3300.00), and/or 6 months imprisonment for a first offender; 12 months imprisonment for a repeat offender.
Superintendent of Traffic Operations Kylie Flower was disappointed with the results.“We made no secret about our intention to provide a highly visible presence on Canberra roads over the long weekend,” Superintendent Flower said.
“Four people have lost their lives already this year on our roads. It’s disturbing that some people are still choosing to put people’s lives in danger by driving dangerously.”
[Courtesy ACT Policing]