Ararat First Constable Tom Horsten said the five-day blitz focused on cars with broken lights and also revealed many other problems in some of the vehicles.

"Ninety per cent of the vehicles we pulled over with one headlight also had other issues and two of them had to be taken off the road immediately," Constable Horsten said.

"They weren't necessarily old cars because we know one was less than 12 years old.

"One of them had smashed headlight, smashed tail light and a windscreen that was cracked from one side to the other as well as wires that were hanging out of the tyres.

"The other had similar issues but the bumper was barely attached and hanging near the ground. It also had a missing indicator light, so there was no way it could signal it was turning."

He said both cars were issued with major defect notices and the drivers were forced to tow them to a garage for repairs.

"With the canaries, there's a condition that the car can't be driven until everything is fixed to a safe standard," First Constable Horsten said.

"But generally, the public have been good and Operation Pirate was mainly about education."

He said 10 penalty notices were issued - mostly for speeding - including one driver who was detected at 130kmh in a 100km/h zone, leading to the loss of their licence for three months.

"Most of the speeding cars were detected on the Western Highway, but there were also a few around Buangor and on the main road to Mortlake.

"A common thing we get is that people say they were trying to overtake - but you still shouldn't speed.

"We have a small amount of discretion with safe overtaking, but doing at, say, 30km/h over the speed limit is just stupid."

Ararat police are thinking of holding another Operation Pirate in the next few months, possibly teaming up with police from neighbouring areas.

Meanwhile, St Arnaud is fast becoming the speed capital of western Victoria, with a series of high-level offences last week.

Police said on Friday, July 29 a car was clocked at 156km/h in a 100hm/h zone on Banyena Road.

"The driver from South Australia, whose licence was already suspended, had his car impounded for 30 days at a cost of $2375 and he will have to appear at the St Arnaud Magistrates Court in due course," officers said.

"St Arnaud Police also handed out three other tickets earlier in their shift for others travelling in excess of 125km/h in a 100 zone."