Police across the Hunter have been busy on the roads during the long-weekend.
Newcastle-Hunter Highway Patrol Inspector Mick Buko said on Monday there had been fewer offences than usual, locally, but he attributed that to the COVID-19 lockdown's impact on the number of vehicles on the region's roads.
The usual long-weekend double demerit penalties were not in force.
He said 190 motorists had been caught speeding, nine people had been booked for drink-driving and five for drug-driving as of Monday morning.
"It's disappointing ... on a long-weekend when we shouldn't be driving unless it's a necessity," he said.
"[People] have really got to start looking in their own backyard, among their own friends and neighbours and family and if they see someone who's about to do something stupid ... try to encourage them not to do it."
In one case, just before 3.45pm on Saturday, a 51-year-old man was charged after he was allegedly caught riding a motorbike faster than 180km/h at Freemans Waterhole.
Police said the rider, who was serving a licence suspension until next July, panicked when officers eventually caught up with him and he fell off the bike - which had the incorrect registration plates - at a low speed. He also allegedly had methylamphetamine in his bum bag.
It came after police clocked a 45-year-old Charlestown man driving 134km/h on the Newcastle Inner City Bypass. A breath-test showed that the man had a blood-alcohol reading of 0.126.
A few hours earlier, at 1am, Muswellbrook police arrested and charged a 48-year-old woman who allegedly returned a blood-alcohol reading of 0.151 - more than three times the legal limit.
