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Traffic cops on trail of worst drivers

Sending up a cloud of dust, the motorcyclist swerved into a side road and headed for parkland that would enable him to slip away.

But the police officers planning to intercept him had tracked his usual route and were one step ahead - blocking his path with an SUV as two other unmarked cars swooped in to surround him.

_The Weekend West _ was there for the early morning Operation Nimrod sting on the unlicensed rider in South Lake this week.

The Nimrod traffic task force was launched in December to target the State's worst motorists and get them off the road before they kill or injure someone.

In just three months, the team has seized almost 300 vehicles from reckless or suspended drivers after compiling a hit list based on hoon tip-offs, speed and red light camera detections, covert surveillance and other investigations.

At the team's office in the State traffic headquarters in Midland, a rogues' gallery of charged motorists and their vehicles covers the walls.

"We've actually run out of wall space, which is a pretty poor indictment of the community and particularly those drivers who we've seized the vehicles off," Insp. Ian Clarke said.

"The primary people we're targeting here are people who have been detected on speed cameras travelling at extremely high speeds, we're talking in excess of 200km/h in many cases.

"If they hit somebody at those speeds … it will end in tragedy."

The operation is part of the response to last year's road toll - the worst in four years.

Police allege the motorcyclist stopped in South Lake on Wednesday morning "ticked all the boxes" for the operation.

The 33-year-old was allegedly flouting a driving ban even though he was serving a suspended jail term after being convicted for previously driving while he was suspended.

He became a target for the Nimrod team after tip-offs claiming he was still driving and riding the motorbike at high speeds along cycle paths and through parks, endangering pedestrians and cyclists.

Police used three vehicles to intercept him to avoid an opportunity for him to flee and potentially endanger other people.

After questioning him on Wednesday, police charged him with two counts of having no authority to drive and impounded his motorbike.

Insp. Clarke said police were focused on people with poor driving records, those who had several licence suspensions but were still putting others at risk on the roads by speeding, doing burnouts or driving recklessly on suburban streets.

"We don't have a particular type of person we're targeting, we're targeting a particular type of behaviour," Insp. Clarke said.

"While there are a number of people in that group who have previous criminal activity and indulge in behaviour which the general community would not accept, there are a large number of people who are also otherwise law-abiding citizens but have got into a car and have done really stupid things.

"For example, we have a mum who could be dropping her kids off at school, but that person could be driving without a licence or is suspended from driving, has a bad driving history, so that then means they are a threat to those children they're carrying in the car and a risk to other motorists."

He cited the case of a man charged with 12 counts of driving without a licence after officers gathered enough evidence to allege he drove on a dozen separate occasions.

"This is an individual who has no regard for the community and probably doesn't have too much regard for themselves but he's not alone," Insp. Clarke said.

Other examples of drivers caught by the Nimrod team include a man who has had two cars and a motorcycle impounded since December for driving without a licence and a 40-year-old man who has had his car impounded four times.

Insp. Clarke said people expected others to do the right thing behind the wheel because everyone knew the outcome of poor decision-making on the road.

Police analysis showed about 25 per cent of those at fault in fatal crashes between January and October last year did not have a valid licence.

And almost one-third of them had at least one previous conviction for having no authority to drive.

"In the scheme of things, it's a relatively small group of people in the community but unfortunately they are so over-represented in our fatal and serious crashes that they are a group that need to be targeted," Insp. Clarke said.