REGION - Police have praised the behaviour of most road users at Easter after not one driver recorded a positive reading to the more than one thousand random breath tests carried out across the region over the holiday period.
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The Easter operation which ran from Good Friday through to Easter Monday is one of the biggest conducted all year and coincided with the statewide Operation Crossroads.
Police conducted 1,321 random breath tests and a further 17 drivers were randomly tested for drugs, with all returning negative results.
Northern Grampians Shire Highway Patrol Sergeant Rod Davis said it is very unusual given the size of the operation conducted that not one driver returned a reading at or above .05.
"It is quite pleasing that given the number of alcohol and drug tests conducted that not one person returned a positive result," he said.
"Usually we would catch one or two drivers as a minimum, but it appeared that people who were in town at the weekend heeded the warnings and had designated drivers.
"It's not as if we weren't out there looking for people doing the wrong thing. We had a heavy presence, we were pulling up drivers everywhere and checking them for everything so from that perspective and from this result it appears that the message about drink driving is getting through."
Sgt Davis said police remain concerned about the number of instances where drivers were caught travelling at high speed.
The most concerning came in the lead up to Easter when on Thursday night a driver was clocked at 141 km/h on the Western Highway.
The driver of the vehicle faced an on the spot six month suspension of their licence, $541 fine and loss of six demerit points.
"People need to slow down and be patient, speeds of 140 km/h on a busy highway are just unacceptable and won't be tolerated," Sgt Davis said.
In a separate case of speeding a driver was recorded travelling at 133km/h on the Halls Gap to Dunkeld Road on Easter Saturday.
Police also responded to reports from multiple motorists about a vehicle being driven erratically on the Moyston Ararat Road at Cathcart on Monday evening
A 33-year-old driver from Melbourne was found to be travelling at 92 km/h in a 60km/h speed zone.
Sgt Davis said a number of other penalty notices were issued for seat belt and mobile phone offences as well as missing a stop sign.
"What can appear to be just minor offences on the surface all contribute to distraction and hamper safety, the consequences of which can be horrific," he said.
A total of twenty drivers were caught speeding, another fourteen were found to be at the wheel of vehicles that were deemed to be in an unroadworthy condition and issued with defect notices.