More than a dozen motorists were charged for impaired-driving offences across the Riverina on Friday–Sunday.
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Four people were charged for drug driving and nine for drink driving.
The charges came during the latest Operation Chrome, a police road-safety blitz aimed at reducing road trauma on rural roads.
The operation involved more than 40 police officers conducting 1700 random breath and drug tests, which also resulted in 179 traffic-infringement notices being issued.
Riverina police Superintendent Bob Noble said they were satisfied “we got through the weekend without too many serious traffic incidents”.
“But some of those offences are still concerning,” Superintendent Noble said.
“[Those offences] were right across the district but the majority in Wagga LGA and the city itself.
“In an area where there are a lot of vehicles and people moving around, that’s fairly concerning but with our high visibility and enforcement regime, we were pleased with how it went.”
Across the Southern Region, 78 people were arrested with 268 charges laid, including 61 drivers charged with drink-driving offences.
Nearly 17,800 static and mobile RBTs were conducted.
As well, 357 roadside drug tests were conducted with 20 drivers testing positive. Nine people were found to be driving while disqualified.
Leading into Christmas, the Riverina Police District is set to conduct additional operations, including ‘Compliance’ and ‘Safe Arrival’.
Superintendent Noble said the former focuses on vehicle standards and pedestrian offences, which runs on December 5.
The annual Operation Safe Arrival will be conducted on December 21 to January 1.
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