Easter cross

By Lia Bichel
IT WAS a tragic start to the Easter holidays when a Berwick man died on the first day of a major state-wide police operation aimed to reduce road trauma.
And police are angry that so many motorists are still not getting the road safety message.
Casey police were out in force over the Easter holidays as part of Operation Crossroads, which ran from 21 to 26 April targeting drink driving and safety related offences.
About 2.30pm on 21 April, a 30-year-old Berwick man was killed when his motorcycle collided with a car on Ernst Wanke Road.
The driver of the car, a woman in her 50s, was taken to hospital for treatment with non-life threatening injuries.
He was one of five people who died across the state during the Easter break.
A 41-year-old man died in a single vehicle roll-over at Wemen on 22 April and another man, 23, died when he was struck by a truck in Brunswick on 25 April, a 16-year-old boy was killed on his trail bike in Morwell on 26 April and on the same day a Perth woman aged in her 70s died following a crash at Drouin.
The fatalities brought the state road toll to 97, which was six more than this time last year, Operation Crossroads commander, Acting Assistant Commissioner Neville Taylor, said.
He said the whole community needed to take action and passengers had the responsibility to speak up when a driver was not being safe.
In Casey, police conducted 3680 breath tests. They detected 18 blood-alcohol offences, 14 disqualified drivers, 15 unlicensed drivers, 25 seatbelt offences, and 35 people driving while on their mobile phones.
Police also caught 191 speeding drivers including a Berwick man, 58, who was caught speeding up to 11 kilometres per hour over the limit and driving while almost four times the legal drinking limit on Princes Highway, Hallam, on Friday.
Mr Taylor said while Operations Crossroads had finished, officers would not stop taking their focus off road safety.
“When we look at the results for operation Crossroads over the long weekend, it is a major concern that so many people still chose to drink and drive, drive while on their mobile phone or speed, despite knowing the risk of this behaviour,” Mr Taylor said.
“We had more than 500 people caught drink driving (across the state) over the Easter break.
“How could 500 people still not get the message that this is a high-risk behaviour which places all road users at risk?
“It is simply unacceptable.”