By Sahar Foladi
Operation Amity was in full force this Australia Day long weekend as Police issued a stern warning to those getting behind the wheel when they shouldn’t be.
Operation Amity saw police across the state utilise automatic number plate recognition technology (ANPR) to detect and prosecute drivers who’re unlicensed, suspended and disqualified thanks to the government uplift.
Assistant Commissioner for road policing, Glenn Weir said, “We’ve seen an unacceptable road trauma at the start of 2023. We can’t continue to have people lose their lives by making poor decisions so we’ll be out there trying to ensure that people comply with road laws, that people aren’t speeding, driving whilst impaired and particularly aren’t driving when they shouldn’t be.”
With the new technology, police will take stern actions against anyone found especially, driving when they shouldn’t be.
There are 239 highway patrol vehicles across Victoria and each of them will be fitted with the technology as well as additional police cars in regional and specialist areas.
Additionally, there were unmarked police cars with the new technology on the roads as well.
“I want to make it clear to people, if you run gauntlet of driving when you shouldn’t be, you will be detected,” Mr Weir said.
Police targeted holiday locations for the long weekend such as Phillip Island, Mornington Peninsula and East Gippsland as well as feeder roads.
Churchill Park Drive in Keysborough has been one of the major hot spot in the south east.
“Last year we ran a lot of operations in around this particular area and saw real reduction all the local police state-wide resources came together really well to reduce trauma.”
In 2017, a man died after a head-on car crash with a Toyota Hilux ute, which was travelling west on Churchill Park Drive.
The Toyota Hilux crossed onto the wrong side of the road and collided with an eastbound Ford ute.
According to Transport Accident Commission the number of lives lost on Victorian roads annually is up by 2.6 per cent.
Police ask roads users to slow down and plan their journey.
“We can’t be everywhere at all time I really want people to take responsibility for their own actions.
Wake up, grow up and arrive safely, that’s what we want,” Weir said.
The ANPR technology also picks up a whole range of other factors such as, stolen cars and unregistered vehicles.
“We have a focus on broader law enforcement, we can input a whole lot of data on the list that can check people who are wanted, people who are person of interest for whole range of criminal activity as well,” Mr Weir said.
The ANPR technology can scan up to 76 million number plates a year or 8,675 number plates an hour with that, there are more ANPR-fitted police vehicles on Victorian roads than ever before.
During a recent state-wide road policing operation, ANPR helped police detect 1,021 motorists who should not be on the roads, 33 per cent more than the previous year.
