More than 7000 offences were detected by Victoria Police during Operation Scoreboard over the AFL Grand Final long weekend.
The five-day, statewide road policing operation saw police targeting high-risk driving behaviour, with a particular focus on speeding, impaired driving, and distraction.
Police also increased their focus on motorcycle safety during the operation following a recent spike in motorcycle trauma, with 238 motorcycle offences detected.
The Greater Dandenong Police Service Area detected 86 offences during the five-day period, including seven drink drivers, three drug drivers, 20 speeding offences, 12 unlicenced drivers, seven disqualified drivers, 18 unregistered vehicles, five disobey sings/signals, nine seatbelt offences and five mobile phone offences.
Across the state, Police detected 224 motorists for drink driving offences from 119,953 preliminary breath tests, and a further 212 drug driving offences from 3,615 roadside drug tests.
A total of 7466 traffic offences were detected during the operation, with almost 40 per cent of those for speeding.
There were also 377 mobile phone offences detected, and automatic number plate recognition technology caught 494 motorists for driving whilst disqualified, suspended or unlicenced.
Three lives were lost on Victorian roads during the long weekend operation, with a motorist struck and killed whilst changing a car tyre in Deer Park on Wednesday, and two motorcyclist fatalities in Leopold on Thursday and Gerangamete on Sunday bringing the total number of lives lost to 186 – 26 higher than last year and well above the five-year average of 169.
Operation Scoreboard was conducted from 12:01am Wednesday 21 September to 11:59pm Sunday 25 September 2022.
Assistant Commissioner for Road Policing Glenn Weir said many of the infringements could have been avoided if drivers slowed down, paid attention and obeyed the speed limits.
“Almost 500 drivers were detected for driving whilst unlicensed, disqualified or suspended, meaning they shouldn’t even be behind the wheel. This blatant disregard for the rules will not be tolerated, and police will continue to utilise ANPR technology to detect and remove unauthorised drivers from the roads,” he said.
“Now is not the time to be complacent – we’re experiencing high levels of road trauma not seen since well before the pandemic.
“Police will continue to be on high alert for motorists engaging in risk-taking behaviour that puts other road users in danger.”
