Police have warned travelling Canberrans to slow down and avoid the drink this Easter to prevent an increase of the capital’s “abysmal” road toll.
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ACT Policing superintendent Kylie Flower said a significant number of resources would be allocated to traffic duties over the weekend, which ends a month where three people have died on ACT roads.
“We will have [a] high concentration of police working tonight and on Monday, however over the weekend we will have a high presence in Canberra to ensure motorists travelling around Canberra are also safe,” superintendent Flower said.
“If you drink and drive on Canberra roads this weekend you can reasonably expect to be detected,” she said.
Double demerit points for speeding and seatbelt offences are in effect until the end of Monday, with an extra demerit point for all other traffic offences.
Speaking at a joint press conference with NSW Police inspector Neil Grey and a trio of highway patrol cars, superintendent Flower said speed was a problem for Canberrans during their traditional Easter exodus.
“I think when they leave Canberra everyone is in a hurry to get to their destination, and while we do enjoy good roads, our records with fatalities this year has been abysmal,” she said.
Her key message was to drive to the conditions, with some rain expected this weekend.
“We do see a high increase in collisions when we do have rain,” she said.
“The 100km per hour speed limit is not a target: drive to the conditions and adapt your driving behaviour accordingly.”
There were no Easter fatalities in Canberra last year, but 18 drink drivers were caught, superintendent Flower said.
Inspector Grey said resources would be concentrated on the Kings Highway and Federal Highway as part of a continuation of the successful joint NSW and ACT Police Operation Crossroads.
“All available staff will be deployed, from our highway office to our general duties offices… targeting alcohol and speeding,” he said.
“We’d like to think the targeting of those roads has caused success in eliminating the loss of life over the last two years, and we’d hope to continue that.”
Numbers would be bolstered by visiting highway patrol men, Inspector Grey said.
The show of police road presence for the weekend also included a Yamaha FJR1300 motorbike, one of 16 bikes in ACT Policing’s fleet.
