Fatality-free long weekend

Canberra enjoyed a fatality-free Easter long weekend as ACT Policing’s Operation Safe Arrival conducted high-visibility patrols across Canberra.

Across the long weekend, ACT Policing’s Traffic Operations issued 402 Traffic Infringement Notices and conducted 5,818 roadside breath tests and 82 roadside drug tests throughout Canberra. Of those roadside tests, 21 people were found to be over the prescribed limit for alcohol and 18 people that showed a positive indication for drugs.

ACT Policing Traffic Operations Acting Station Sergeant Marcus Boorman said he was pleased Canberrans returned from their holidays safely.

“Despite the few hundred drivers caught doing the wrong thing on our roads, the vast majority of road users did the right thing,” Acting Station Sergeant Boorman said.

“During Operation Safe Arrival, a driver was involved in a collision in Woden driving 0.199, nearly four times the legal alcohol limit. In another incident, police detected a speeding motorist travelling at 149km/h in an 80km/h zone. The driver with requirements to use an interlock device was driving a vehicle without one. She was found to be three times the legal limit.”

“Our message remains the same even though the operation has ceased. ACT Policing will not tolerate speeding or impaired drivers and will make every effort to continue to remove these drivers from our roads,” Acting Station Sergeant Boorman said.

On Thursday evening, in the lead up to the long weekend, ACT Policing Criminal Investigations ran a proactive operation across Canberra targeting street-level drug possession and dealing.

The operation focused on harm minimisation and education in Canberra’s city centre. Across the evening, officers conducted 22 drug seizures and charged two people with drug possession. A further 15 people proceeded through the Drug and Alcohol Diversion program.

Criminal Investigations Targeting Station Sergeant Harry Hains said the operation aimed to reduce the harm that drugs cause on Canberra streets.

“During the operation our officers seized a number of drugs in small amounts, including cocaine, MDMA, cannabis and one seizure of ketamine. These are drugs that could cause serious harm, not just to the person using drugs but also to the people around them,” Station Sergeant Hains said.

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