A new police team has been deployed to target dangerous road behaviour in Lake Macquarie just in time for the Easter long weekend and double demerit period.
A Traffic and Highway Patrol cluster made up of nine officers is now based out of Morisset Police Station, after a need was identified to combat high road injury and fatalities in the area.
"When you look at Lake Macquarie Local Government area as a whole, it's disproportionately represented in injury and fatal motor vehicle collisions," Lake Macquarie Police District Superintendent Danny Sullivan said. "And in that, the southwestern part of the area is over represented. So there is a real challenge and when you look at the reason this is happening, there are four factors - speeding, drink driving, drug driving and using a mobile phone.
"We've been doing awareness raising around these four factors, but when an opportunity came up to realign the Traffic and Highway Patrol command's deployment, we saw a need for those resources here."
Superintendent Sullivan said it was a good time for the new team to be out on the roads ahead of Easter and the school holidays.
"This is the real test of their capability," he said. "It's all about having that high police presence at a time when we know there will be more cars on the road."
He also hoped the extra visibility would have a deterrent effect.
"While its fantastic to see this extra patrol, if we also get people to take charge of their own behaviour then we'll see a significant reduction in injury and fatal collisions," he said. "People are prepared to take the risk, they don't factor in that risk with the consequences because every action has an outcome and that real outcome could be the death of someone that you know and love.
"Everybody in in one of those fatal motor collisions is a community member, a community member who didn't have to die, so it's all about behaviour control."
Inspector Mick Buko, who is in a new position at Morisset that looks after the Highway Patrol across Lake Macquarie, Newcastle and the Hunter Valley, said the team had been seconded from other locations.
"Staff from the Highway Patrol in this area were predominantly based at Belmont, so with Morisset station being rebuilt recently it was the perfect opportunity to put some Highway Patrol in here," he said.
"We hope to see an increase in detections for drugs and alcohol, which unfortunately is the majority of our work. But it's also about getting seen on the roads more. Rather than being on the side of the road, we want to have a more mobile approach."
Lake Macquarie MP Greg Piper, who has long been pushing for extra police resources, said he believed the deployment would satisfy a need in the community.
"We know there are real problems on our streets, the locals know it, there is so much bad driving behaviour out there," he said.
"We've got people at risk everyday. The activity on our roads is out of control and I think the extra Highway Patrol presence is going to make a big difference."
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark: newcastleherald.com.au
- Download our app
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News
