The Easter break is traditionally one of the busiest periods on Tasmania’s roads and Police will be taking part in the national road safety initiative, Operation Crossroads.

The Operation provides a strategic focus for road safety and our resources will be targeted at high-risk driving behaviour.  That includes:

• Speeding – we’ll be using static and mobile speed detection devices.
• Drink and drug driving – there will have Random Breath and Drug Testing sites around the state.
• And our high visibility patrols will also focus on Seatbelt offences and using mobile phones while driving.

“Our safety message is not new but it needs to be consistently reiterated,” said the Commissioner of Police, Darren Hine.

“The harsh reality is that since last Easter 21 people have been killed in vehicle crashes and more than 200 have been seriously injured.

“Driving safely and to the conditions is something every driver must do every day – to avoid becoming part of the statistics,” said Mr Hine.

Most drivers ARE doing the right thing; a major police operation at nine locations around Hobart on Friday night tested almost 2,500 drivers for alcohol and drugs.

“It was encouraging that of those 2,500 tests, 5 drivers exceeded the blood alcohol limit, and one driver returned a positive result for drugs.”

We have additional officers rostered on for the Easter period and Operation Crossroads is about maximising those resources in targeting unsafe driving on our highways and arterial roads.

The additional message we want to send is that road safety is not just down to police – every driver is responsible for their own behaviour on the road.

Our advice is to take your time getting to your destination, drive to the weather conditions, don’t even consider driving if you’ve had a few drinks, and drive within the speed limit.