The annual Riverina police road blitz this summer has ended with fewer traffic offences compared with the previous period.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Operation Safe Arrival ran from December 21 to January 2 with the Riverina police issuing the following infringements:
- Speeding: 253
- Seat belt: 33
- Other traffic offences: 394
Police conducted 12,377 random breath tests.
In the previous period, 387 people were charged with speeding, 21 with seat belt and 440 other offences. Police conducted 12,727 breath tests.
About 8am on Monday, police conducted breath tests on Hammond Avenue where a 79-year-old man was caught drink driving.
He was driving a white Subaru and returned a positive reading.
A following breath test at Wagga Police Station returned a reading of .68.
He was charged and is set to appear at Wagga Local Court later in the year.
Wagga Police Senior Sergeant Darryl Thomas said that while the fewer infringements were positive, there was unfortunately one life lost in the period.
“Most of the infringements were seat belt,” he said.
“We find that speeding and drink-driving offences are starting to fall.
“They’re [motorists] are starting to heed the warnings.”
Senior Sergeant Thomas said driver behaviour and extra police on roads contributed to the decrease.
Speaking a media conference yesterday, Wagga Police Acting Inspector Phil Malligan said that the results meant “we’ve been able to see right across the state a considerable reduction in fatality on our roads”.
“It certainly goes to show that with the high volume of people on our roads, the NSW Police have been out there in force,” Inspector Malligan said.
“Although there have been incidents with respect to that [Operation Safe Arrival], the message [about reducing road fatalities] has got out there.
The operation ran statewide and double demerits applied for speeding, seat-belt, mobile phone and motorcycle-helmet offences.
Across the state, there has been 14 fewer road deaths this summer compared with the previous period.
For 2018, 354 lost their lives on NSW roads compared with 389 in 2017.
Read more court and crime news
While you’re with us, did you know that you can now receive updates straight to your inbox each day at 6am from The Daily Advertiser? To make sure you’re up to date with all the Wagga news, sign up here.
