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Police blitz on Wheatbelt drivers

Police blitz on Wheatbelt drivers

If you are driving in the Wheatbelt tonight and think you can sneak home via back road after a night at the pub, think again as more than 100 police flood the region and promise to test and arrest any alcohol or drug affected drivers.

Last year the region was the most dangerous area to drive in with 49 deaths and serious injuries.

Inattention, alcohol, a combination of alcohol and speed, speed and drugs were the leading causes of crashes in the Wheatbelt last year.

Supt Peter Halliday said he is calling on the community to rethink their attitudes when it comes to driving to stop the carnage on our roads.

“Police can only do so much, we can only enforce the law," he said.

“It’s never okay to speed, it’s never okay to not wear a seatbelt, it’s never okay to drink and drive and if you’ve taken an illegal drug you’ve already made a bad choice, so don’t make it worse by driving a car.”

Supt Halliday said the Wheatbelt experienced nearly one fatality every fortnight and the impact was felt throughout the region.

“The impact of the road toll goes far further than the immediate family of the person who dies," he said.

"There’s the impact on the local police officer who has to attend and deal with the matter, local emergency services in most of these towns are volunteers, you’ve got volunteer ambulance drivers, fire fighters, who may be mates with the victim who might be patching them up and picking up the pieces, and then they are the ones who have to deal with the psychological trauma of having to deal with those situations.”

Supt Halliday said Wheatbelt residents had a lower chance of being victims of crime compared to people living elsewhere but that all changed when they got behind the wheel.

Last year’s fatalities in the Wheatbelt equate to 49.8 deaths for every 100,000 people.

The next closest is 27.6 fatalities per 100,000 people in the Great Southern.

Supt Halliday said it was important for locals to remember that about two thirds of those who died on the region's roads last year were Wheatbelt residents, while only one third were passing tourists or lived in Perth.

Thirteen towns will be targeted in tonight’s operation and more will undergo the same “lockdowns” over the coming months.