OPERATION Break Up has been launched in Ararat with Police hitting the streets and highways as part of stage two of the Summer Stay road safety campaign.
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Acting Sergeant Shaun Allen, from the Northern Grampians Highway Patrol said the first stage of the Summer Stay campaign, Operation Raid, aimed at removing all impaired drivers from Victorian roads between November 14 and December 7, while focus will now shift during Operation Break Up.
"Operation Break Up is pretty self-explanatory, it targets the Christmas period which centres around lots of work break-ups," he said.
"Every Highway Patrol shift is dedicated towards that, focusing mainly on drink and drug driving, but also on distraction and seatbelt offences.
"We have a couple of minor incidents in this area since the introduction of the Summer Stay campaign this year, thankfully we have had no fatalities and just one serious injury collision in Glenorchy about a week ago."
Summer Stay is a state-wide Victoria Police initiative that is run each year consisting off four phases.
At the conclusion of Operation Break Up, Operation Crossroads (December 23-Janurary 3) will commence focusing on high risk factors associated with holiday driving, while Operation Fresh Start (January 4-5) will conclude the campaign with the focus on fatigue during the return of the industrial sector from the holiday break.
The Victorian road toll as it stood to Wednesday, December 17 was 243, which is nine more than the same time last year.
Acting Sergeant Allen encouraged drivers to make the most of Driver Reviver sites across the state, which are run by the State Emergency Service.
As usual Ararat will host a Driver Reviver rest stop out of the SES Emergency Complex on the Western Highway.
Ararat Police have again taken the measure of setting up car crash displays on the Western Highway in the hope that the visual evidence will have a greater impact.
"The highway is starting to pick up volume wise, which it always does this time of the year," Acting Sergeant Allen said.
"The displays were arranged a couple of years ago by one of the sergeants here and ever since has been an ongoing thing during the busy holiday periods.
"It is another way to get the message out there and reminder of the dangers of doing the wrong things like speeding or using your mobile phones on the road."
