There was a marked reduction in the number of people given traffic tickets in the Highlands this Easter – down by 37 per cent.
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A total 96 infringements were issued by Mittagong Traffic and Highway Patrol police, compared to 152 for the same period last year.
The majority of tickets were for speeding, which was also the case across the whole Hume Local Area Command (LAC) – 226 drivers copped speeding fines between the Highlands, Goulburn and Yass districts.
Double demerits were in force from April 13-17 for Operation Tortoise, which promoted a “slow and steady” message to all drivers.
The message was not heard by some drivers, however, with several drivers stopped for travelling at speeds significantly above the legal speed limit all across NSW.
Two learner drivers were caught driving at more than 140km/h in separate incidents over the long weekend period.
In Mittagong, police stopped a 43-year-old woman travelling at an alleged speed of 183km/h on the Hume Highway.
Police stopped the woman in a 110km/h zone about 8.15am on April 16.
Her licence was suspended immediately and police issued her an infringement for exceeding the speed limit by more than 45km/h.
A focus on drink driving and rural roads was also apparent in the Hume LAC, as extra police patrols worked to reduce the risk to long weekend travellers.
More than 2100 drivers were stopped for random breath tests in the Highlands. For the whole command, this number was 6380. The Hume LAC had the second highest number of RBTs conducted in the Southern region.
Mittagong Highway and Traffic Patrol Sergeant Matt Hoffman said overall, police had seen good driver behaviour during the Easter period.
“There were no fatalities in the Highlands, and no serious accidents or collisions,” he said.
“As a result of a change in driver behaviour, penalty notices and crashes were down.
With not long until the next double demerit period over the Anzac Day holiday, police hope to see these results continue.
“It’s only a very short break to the next state operation from April 21 to 25. We’re looking for the same behaviour from drivers,” he said.
“Take it easy. You’ll get there eventually.”
From April 13-17, 7687 speeding infringements were issued across the state and 244,631 breath tests were carried out.
A total of 323 drivers were charged with drink driving, and there were 321 major crashes.