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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
National
Nick Bielby

Police catch more than 300 speeding in Hunter in a week

The annual Christmas-New Year police operation on the state's roads wraps up on January 3. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

Police are continuing to urge caution on roads in the Hunter, as figures show that more than 300 drivers have been booked for speeding in the region since Christmas Eve.

The annual Christmas-New Year blitz on the state's roads has been going since last week and while Hunter police say behaviour behind the wheel - or handlebars - has been generally good, the speeding statistics show that the safety message is not getting through to everyone.

The region's police fined or charged 337 motorists between December 24 and Thursday - averaging out to almost 50 a day.

Most of those, 201, were caught in the Hunter Valley area, while 90 were pinged in Newcastle and 46 were booked at Lake Macquarie.

Across the region, there have been 24 cases of drug-driving, 12 instances of seatbelt or helmet offences, 10 motorists caught drink driving and five in trouble for using a mobile phone behind the wheel.

More than 450 fines and infringement notices have been handed out for other offences - such as vehicles not being roadworthy or provisional drivers not displaying p-plates.

In one concerning incident so far during the operation, a motorcycle rider was charged for allegedly being clocked travelling at 194km/h on the Hunter Expressway - a 110km/h speed limit zone.

Police issued the 22-year-old West Wallsend man with an infringement notice, suspended his license for six months and confiscated the number plates from the motorbike.

Double demerits for speeding, seatbelt, mobile phone and helmet offences are in force across the state until January 3.

"General motoring behaviour has been good, but some motorists are still flaunting the laws," Hunter highway patrol Sergeant Glenn Swift told the NewcastleHerald yesterday.

"It's still disappointing to see people speeding. There is a reasonably high number of speeding offences detected. I'd recommend people take their time, take their breaks and be aware of their surroundings - particularly speed limits."

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