ANOTHER long weekend means another round of double-demerit points are in force on Hunter roads.
The extra penalties will apply from 12am on Friday, June 7, until 11.59pm on Monday, June 10, for illegal mobile phone use, not wearing a seatbelt or motorcycle helmet when required, and speeding.
Demerit points will be doubled for these offences, but fines remain the same.
As of Wednesday, 158 people had died in crashes across NSW so far in 2024, compared with 132 during the same period last year.
The number of fatalities for the rolling 12-month period to June 5 was 376 - up from 281 in the previous 12 months, according to the NSW government's Centre for Road Safety.
There have been some serious crashes in the Hunter region in the past week.
A motorbike rider was taken to John Hunter Hospital on Monday afternoon (June 3) after a multi-vehicle crash on Main Road at Cardiff.
Meanwhile, a man aged in his 60s died after a car hit a tree on Carnley Avenue at Kotara late on Friday night (May 31).
NSW Police highway patrol commander Assistant Commissioner Brett McFadden said the June long weekend was traditionally one of the busiest times on the state's roads, which "causes us great concern".
"Just in the past few weeks alone we have seen multiple fatal crashes on our roads," he said on Thursday morning.
"This should not be acceptable to us as a community.
"But it is not just the responsibility of police to ensure road safety is enforced. I would urge anyone who is a passenger in a vehicle to call out the bad behaviour of drivers.
"It's up to all of us to do better."
