POLICE returned for an encore performance at Frankston’s Peninsula Link on Thursday 16 August when Somerville Highway Patrol officers used automatic number plate recognition on passing vehicles at Peninsula Link.
Three suspended drivers, two disqualified drivers, 10 unregistered vehicles, one drug driver and one vehicle with false number plates were caught in the police dragnet dubbed Operation Hollywood.
Two cars were impounded and towed away for 30 days since the drivers had prior convictions for the same offence.
Thirteen motorists were also intercepted and fined $282 for “overtaking a police vehicle or emergency vehicle with flashing red or blue lights while operating at a speed greater than 40kph”.
One speeding incident involved a MICA Ambulance stopped at the side of the road due to a medical emergency with a patient being transported.
“Fair warning was given that we’d be enforcing this offence strenuously,” Acting Senior Sergeant Peter Martin said.
“My members are continually getting into and out of vehicles at these locations.”
Many motorists don’t realise just how dangerous it is to be driving past an emergency worker when there is literally half a metre or less between the vehicle and the emergency worker.
“A car travelling at 100 kmh travels 28 metres in just one second. Sometimes even the wind rush from a passing car puts emergency workers at risk. The law has been in for well over 12 months but even if it wasn’t a law, it’s just common sense not to endanger someone on the roadside.”
See vicroads.vic.gov.au online for the new 40kph law when passing emergency vehicles.