THE Wheatbelt Police District have launched a new operation to target poor drivers and lower the road toll.
Operation Aginar was launched on March 6 with the assistance of State Traffic to specifically target the unacceptably high number of road fatalities that have occurred in the Wheatbelt District.
District Superintendent Peter Halliday who is leading the operation said he is determined to reduce road trauma.
“Last year saw 26 road deaths in the Wheatbelt District,” he said.
“This is five times the state average and these statistics are unsatisfactorily high.”
During Operation Aginar, 3108 vehicles were stopped resulting in 20 impaired drivers (nine alcohol and 11 drugs), 37 speeding infringements and three seatbelt infringements issued.
One woman was caught picking her children up from school in York, with a blood alcohol reading of excess 0.08 and no valid drivers license.
While another female driver in Northam returned her fourth positive drug test in as many months.
Regional MP Mia Davies said the results of the operation in 13 Wheatbelt towns demonstrated that too many people are being reckless with their own lives and those of other road users.
“Over half the accidents in regional WA are single-vehicle run off's, and a significant number involve a driver or passenger not wearing a seatbelt, speeding or under the influence of alcohol,” Ms Davies said.
“What's needed is a combination of education initiatives and infrastructure solutions.”
As part of this campaign, Merredin Police stopped 291 vehicles, out of which one person was caught drink driving, three people were caught drug driving and two people had no licences.
Merredin Sergeant Michael Daley said Operation Aginar had the desired effect.
“We want to let drivers know that this is not acceptable,” Sergeant Daley said.
The statistics from the operation showed that one in every 50 drivers was involved in at-risk driving.
Due to the success of Operation Aginar, future operations of this nature have been planned with the next 6-12 months.
In more good news to helping reduced WA’s road toll, local government authorities across the Wheatbelt recently received their latest share of Australian Government $2.1 billion Roads to Recovery program to assist with local road construction and maintenance.
The Australian Government is paying over $117 million to 297 local government authorities nationwide, including more than $556,471 to four Wheatbelt councils.
Ms Davies said she is seriously concerned that Wheatbelt communities are dealing with fatalities and serious injury due to road trauma too often.
“In fact, the fatality rate in the Wheatbelt is more than four times the State rate, a situation that is completely unacceptable,” she said.
“I have raised these concerns directly with Hon Liza Harvey, Minister for Police and Road Safety, and continue to make the case to my colleagues around the Cabinet table that the Wheatbelt requires a specific program of funding to address these alarming statistics.
“The impact of a serious accident spreads beyond family, friends and colleagues to volunteers involved in emergency services and the broader community.”
Four local governments across the Wheatbelt that received $556,471 in Roads to Recovery payments were the Shire of Bruce Rock - $56,556, the Shire of Quairading - $258,631, the Shire of Yilgarn - $111,284 and Shire of Westonia - $130,000.
Outside of Operation Aginar and Roads to Recovery funding, Fairfax Media WA is running #arrivealive, a campaign also aimed at helping bring down the road toll on the state’s roads.
