Operation Crossroads Day 5 – serious crash in North-West Tasmania
| State wide traffic enforcement activities | 2015 | 2016 |
| Random drug & alcohol tests to date | 15885 | 12538 |
| Motorists charged with drink driving offences to date | 46 | 37 |
| Motorists who returned positive oral fluid tests to date | 37 | 23 |
| Total Infringement notices issued to date | 1292 | 984 |
| Infringement notices issued for speeding offences | 908 | 704 |
| Infringement notices issued for inattentive driving | 76 | 56 |
| Infringement notices issued for mobile phone use | 46 | 22 |
| Infringement notices issued for seat belt offences | 40 | 37 |
| Fatal and Serious Crashes | 2015 | 2016 |
| Fatal Crashes | 0 | 0 |
| Serious Crashes | 6 | 3 |
This is the fifth and final full day of Operation Crossroads.
Two tragic accidents marred yesterday’s road safety campaign. Both of these involved one of the fatal five causes of serious and fatal crashes.
Overall traffic infringement notices are down by around 20% from last year which is encouraging. Of note, however is that oweveH` restraint offences have not seen a marked decline.
It is not the aim of Tasmania Police to issues as many infringement notices as possible but to educate drivers and change driver behaviour to the point where infringements drop significantly.
Over 50% of the infringements issued for this operation have been cautions These are issued to eligible drivers who have been observed committing offences but are first time offenders or have relatively good driving records.
Incidents
There were two serious incidents on our roads yesterday:
Serious Crash – North West Tasmania
An 11 year old girl lost control of her pushbike on a steep decline resulting in a crash in which she received serious head injuries. She was transported to the North West Regional Hospital and subsequently flown to Hobart.
It does not appear that she was wearing a helmet.
Our thoughts are with her and her family at this time.
Serious Crash – Southern Outlet – Tolmans Hill
A single vehicle accident occurred at Tolmans hill on the Southern Outlet yesterday at approximately 4:45pm. The driver of the vehicle, a 55 year old Tourist from Vanuatu is believed to have fallen asleep and lost control of his vehicle.
Travelling Home
Many people will be travelling home from their Easter escapes today. Those of you that are we encourage you to drive safely and take breaks when you feel that you need it. Everyone should expect to see more caravans, boats and trailers being towed on the roads today. Those of you that are driving these vehicles or are following them, please drive courteously and patiently. Remember these vehicles behave and handle differently than they normally would and need more room to stop or manoeuvre in an emergency.
Tasmania Police ask each and every motorist to drive carefully and be continually aware of the ‘fatal 5’; the five biggest contributors to serious and fatal crashes on our roads, these being:
speed
failure to wear seatbelts or helmets
Alcohol and Drugs
Inattention
Driving whilst tired