Double demerit points apply this Easter weekend
Just one choice could mean the difference between an Easter holiday or an Easter tragedy, police have warned, adding that double demerit points apply until midnight on Monday.
On the eve of Operation Tortoise, the State’s Easter road safety campaign, police have revealed that too many people were making choices that left them unprotected on the road.
Operation Tortoise began at 1am today and concludes at 11.59pm on Monday. Double demerit points apply for all speeding and seatbelt offences.
Five people died in five separate crashes on NSW roads during the same operation last year. Three of those crashes occurred when one of the vehicles involved was overtaking.
Police said on Thursday that the State road toll stood at 176, 44 more than for the corresponding period last year. .
Traffic Services Commander Chief Superintendent John Hartley said that while police would maintain a strong presence on the road this Easter, it is the choices individuals made that were critically important.
“You should not let the choice you make to overtake when perhaps you shouldn’t, or deciding to travel even a little bit over the speed limit that costs you or someone else their lives or the lives of their family,” Chief Superintendent Hartley said.
“People are not choosing to protect themselves when they travel. This is particularly true in the State’s south where, so far this year, one fifth of people killed in road crashes haven’t been wearing a seatbelt.
“It has been compulsory for all people in vehicles to wear their seatbelts or be in an approved restraint since 1974.”
