WA Police road policing: Nearly 500 drivers slapped with infringements following major road safety blitz

Almost 500 motorists have been slapped with driving infringements following a major road safety blitz in WA’s far north. Officers from the WA Police road policing unit were deployed to the Mid West Gascoyne, Pilbara and Kimberley regions on July 30 for a four-week crackdown on drunk and drug-affected drivers. As part of the blitz, officers issued 440 infringements including 173 for speeding, 150 for driving an unlicensed vehicle, 16 for no authority to drive, 15 for impaired driving and 10 for using a mobile phone. Over 90 drivers also returned a positive reading for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Police impounded 18 vehicles, including a Mazda CX-5 station sedan after it was allegedly spotted speeding at 163km/h — more than 50km/h over the speed limit — on North West Coastal Highway on August 1. The female driver was charged with reckless driving and no authority to drive and will face court at a later date. Just one week later, police impounded a Mazda sedan after a P-plater was allegedly caught zooming at 13km/h — 50km/h over the speed limit — on Wallwork Road, in Port Hedland. The teenage driver was charged with reckless driving. “WA Police aims to continue practising the mantra of ‘anywhere anytime’ in an effort to influence safe road-user behaviour, and reassure the community by providing a highly visible road policing presence,” a police spokesperson said. Road Policing Commander Mike Peters said WA’s north-west had an influx of tourists between April and August, which in turn increased the potential for serious crashes. “The infringements given over this operation directly correlate to the ‘fatal five’ — offences which we know are over represented in serious and fatal crashes in our state. “Road Policing Command will continue to work as hard as we can in the enforcement space to ensure people are safe on our roads.”