By Gabriella Payne
Excitement is in the air as the holiday season and Christmas festivities are just around the corner, but with more Victorians at home this year due to Covid-19 impacting travel plans, our roads are set to be busier than ever and Victoria Police are urging people to “be smart” and stay safe this festive season.The easing of restrictions has come at just the right time, allowing families and friends to catch up and celebrate the end of a tough year – but road safety still remains paramount as the festive frenzy sets in.
Acting Senior Sergeant Rachel Marshall from the Dandenong road policing division said that the Christmas and New Year period was always a busy time of year, but with “limited interstate and no overseas travel” Victoria police were “expecting the volume of traffic to be even heavier this year”.
“There’ll be a lot of people heading out to regional areas and obviously, we have main arterials that run through the Greater Dandenong area and also other areas like Cardinia and Casey, so we’re expecting a high level of traffic, which obviously brings concerns,” Ms Marshall said.
Ms Marshall said that the team were a “bit worried” that people might be a “bit complacent in terms of speeding, fatigue, seatbelts” and the like, and encouraged the local community to be patient on the roads and follow appropriate safety measures, which police will be enforcing.
“People tend to be in a bit of a rush at the end of the year trying to get everything done and we do see a lot of serious collisions,” she said.
“So we’d really like to reinforce the importance of people being patient and taking their time on our roads, because we all want to see people spending these celebratory events with their families, and not be missing anybody because they’re in hospital or they’ve been involved in a collision.”
A statewide policing operation called ‘operation roadwise’ is already underway, which will see more members of the police force out and about, targeting things such as speeding, drink and drug driving, people not wearing seatbelts and distracted drivers using their phones, ensuring everyone is staying road safe this holiday season.
Ms Marshall said that the Dandenong highway patrol unit had “over 140 shifts rostered” in the coming weeks and “an additional two booze buses” would be circulating in the local area, joining the fleet of buses that would be operating throughout Greater Dandenong, Casey and Cardinia over the festive period.
“We obviously want people to enjoy themselves particularly because we’ve all been subjected to lockdown and the five kilometre rule, so we’re just hoping that people are going to be smart about it and exercise caution,” she said.
“If people are going to have a couple of drinks at a work BBQ or something like that, then get an Uber home or a taxi, or have someone as a designated driver. There are other options, and you can still enjoy yourself and the festive season – but just be smart about it.”
