Police enforcing road safety measures and penalties this King's Birthday weekend

Double demerits and other penalties for drivers will be in effect from Friday midnight through the end of the King's Birthday long weekend, as police ramp up public holiday crackdowns.
The double-demerit system will come into effect in NSW from 12.01am on Friday, June 6, and end at 11.59pm on Monday, June 9 for speeding, illegal use of mobile phones, not wearing a seatbelt and riding without a motorcycle helmet.
Police may also give additional demerit points if certain driving and parking offences are committed in a school zone.
The ACT will also implement a similar double-demerit point system, with a single extra demerit point for all other traffic offences.
Victoria Police is cracking down on dangerous driving behaviour over the long weekend, with the road safety blitz – Operation Regal – launching on Friday.
Police say the number of lives lost on the road has surged to a 16-year high, with 37 fatalities recorded just in May.
There have been 136 lives have been lost on Victorian roads this year, up by 14 per cent on the same time last year
Road Policing Command Acting Assistant Commissioner David Byrt said the amount of road trauma the team had experienced halfway into the year had been 'extremely concerning'.
'Whether you're travelling across the state this weekend or heading to the alpine regions, please take extra care on the roads and be sure to drive to the conditions,' he said.
'We'll be highly visible and enforcing across the state's roads this long weekend, cracking down on any dangerous driving behaviour that puts other road users at risk.'
Police have warned that speeding and distracted motorists will be their key focus over the King's Birthday long weekend, which has been identified as a high-risk period on Victoria's roads.
Major arterials and highways leading to holiday hotspots will be targeted, including the alpine areas, with the snow season expected to begin from this weekend onwards.
Drivers and motorists are also urged to avoid driving while impaired, as drug and alcohol testing will be conducted anywhere and at any time.
'We're appealing to everyone to make road safety their No.1 priority every time they get behind the wheel or are out using our roads to eliminate this unnecessary and avoidable trauma,' Mr Byrt said.
'We'll be highly visible and enforcing across the state's roads this long weekend, cracking down on any dangerous driving behaviour that puts other road users at risk.'
Other states like South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory will not be imposing a double-demerit scheme for the long weekend, but road safety campaigns will be conducted.
Tasmania Police has warned drivers and pedestrians to exercise safety and caution during Hobart's Dark Mofo musical festival, which kicks off on Friday.
'This year already, three pedestrians have died on Tasmanian roads, with a further 14 seriously injured,' Inspector John Toohey said.
'We're asking everyone to stay alert, avoid distractions such as phones or headphones and only cross at designated crossings.
'With many festival events taking place at night and in lowlight conditions, we're hoping to see responsible behaviour; that is, people looking out for each other, obeying traffic signals and being visible in the dark.'

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

7NEWS

9 hours ago

• 7NEWS

‘Go back': Melbourne woman fatally shot by police after ignoring 10 warnings

A woman behind the wheel of an SUV that pinned a police officer to a fence was warned to 'go back' 10 times before she was shot and killed. Madeline Margaret Henry, 33, was shot dead on May 24 in South Melbourne after allegedly driving towards a male senior constable during the arrest of a machete-wielding man. An inquest on Monday heard preliminary evidence, mostly drawn from CCTV and body-worn camera footage, on the lead-up to the deadly shooting. The dramatic series of events was set in motion after a 39-year-old South Melbourne man who was allegedly carrying a machete was spotted at Park Towers. Henry was visiting the 31-storey public housing towers and left about the same time as police sighted the man and called out to him by name, the court was told. A police divvy van gave chase after he rode off on a scooter, with a CCTV camera showing a Ford Territory driven by Henry following behind. The suspect was grappled to the ground by a first constable as the senior constable approached to assist after running over the scooter. The SUV stopped on Church Street with its passenger side door open as a 26-year-old male passenger walked into Dow Street with his hands at shoulder height. He described himself as a friend of the suspect and claimed to own the scooter. The senior constable drew his gun and said 'don't you dare drive that car up here' as the front wheels of the car crossed the broken line at the east end of Dow Street. 'The senior constable walked east down Dow Street towards the Ford with his firearm raised in front of him, three times directing it to go back,' counsel assisting Samantha Brown told the court. The second man got back inside the Ford as it continued forward, with the senior constable pointing his gun at Henry and broadcasting on radio that a car was 'trying to run us over here'. The officer stabbed the front-passenger side tyre with a blade as the SUV mounted the footpath and came to rest against the fence, pinning his left leg between it and the bumper. 'As the constable stood up he pointed his firearm and fired four times through the windscreen of the Ford,' Brown said. 'Five seconds had elapsed between the senior constable's 10th direction to get back and the discharging of the firearm.' Henry died at the scene, while the senior constable was hospitalised with leg injuries. Her passenger suffered a gunshot wound and was taken to hospital, along with the 39-year-old man who was later charged. The inquest will not make findings of guilt or innocence or apportion blame for Henry's death. 'The focus of the coronial investigation is likely to be on identifying any precipitants to Henry's actions immediately before her death,' Brown said. 'And the reasonableness of the police use of force in response to them.' Coroner John Cain expects a brief of evidence to be filed by September 22, with the inquest's next hearing likely falling in October. Henry's mother watched the hearing online. Speaking on behalf of Victoria Police's chief commissioner, lawyer Ben Lloyd expressed his and the force's condolences and regret at the loss of Henry's life and promised to co-operate with the inquest. Homicide squad detectives with oversight from Professional Standards Command are conducting a separate investigation, as is standard for fatal police shootings.

ABC News

10 hours ago

• ABC News

Man accused of sexually assaulting 11-year-old he met on dating app tells jury he didn't know she was underage

WARNING: This story contains details of child sexual abuse. A man on trial for sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl has insisted he thought she was "a petite 19-year-old". Shegu Charles Bobb, 27, is facing a jury trial in the ACT Supreme Court for alleged sexual offences against the 11-year-old in February 2020. The pair met on a dating platform called Badoo when he was 21. During his cross examination, Mr Bobb said he thought the girl's small size and weight could have been due to an eating disorder and not because she was lying about her age. "I just thought she was a petite 19-year-old." Prosecutor Marcus Dyason pointed to inconsistencies in Mr Bobb's continued denials that he knew she was 11, and not 19. He suggested to Mr Bobb that when he sent the message "… can't believe you are that young" he "understood [he] was sending a message to an 11-year-old". Mr Bobb denied that. He said he had never encountered people lying about their age on online dating platforms, and that he had believed the girl was the age on her profile. But during Mr Dyason's questioning, Mr Bobb admitted he had previously lied about his own birth date in order to gain access to the dating platforms in 2014 and 2015. "So you do have experience of people lying about their age to get access to an 18 plus site when they aren't 18," Mr Dyason said. "Yes," Mr Bobb replied. Mr Bobb said he would have created those accounts with friends "for sh**s and gig[gle]s". Details of messages exchanged between Mr Bobb and the girl in the lead up to the alleged assaults were also read to the court. When asked why he had sent the message "how old are you" on Saturday February 22 while he was waiting in the car outside the girl's house, Mr Bobb said it was because he was surprised by how sexually "up front" their conversation was for someone who was 19. He agreed their plan was to have sex in his car, despite what he described as a "fairly huge age gap" due to their difference in life experience. They had exchanged explicit images and the girl had asked Mr Bobb to explain step-by-step the plan for their sexual encounter. But when the girl did not come outside to meet Mr Bobb on the Saturday, he said he drove home and continued messaging her that evening. The messages read out to the jury detailed their arrangements to meet the following day to have sex in the car at a location where they would not be caught. Mr Bobb said because he was black, he believed if the girl's parents or neighbours saw him in the area there would be suspicion, hence the plan to drive away from sight. When the girl messaged she was "scared" Mr Bobb said he replied "up to you" because he wanted to reassure her. "I wasn't forcing her," he said. He said he had met the girl near her home and she entered the car — which he was borrowing from his neighbour. During the drive, the girl allegedly "buried her head in her phone" and communicated by messaging on the Badoo app instead of verbally. Mr Bobb told the court he thought this was weird. He drove to a car park in Mount Stromlo where Mr Bobb said he told the girl to "get in the back", which is when many of the alleged offences occurred. He said he stopped when his phone began buzzing with notifications from the girl. "I verbally asked her, 'Can I touch you?' She nodded," he said. "My phone started buzzing … I looked at my phone and that's when I saw her texting, 'I can't, I can't'." Mr Bobb denied accusations that he had raped her, and that he threatened to kill her and her family. He said he let her out of the car and later texted her an apology because he "felt like [he] had scared her". "I was not apologising for any of the things she's now accusing me of, the sexual act that never happened. "Back then I guess I was just dumb and doing stuff, but I wouldn't go as far as doing this." The jury is expected to begin deliberations later in the week.

ABC News

11 hours ago

• ABC News

Ballarat Grammar launches third investigation into boys' boarding houses

A prestigious regional Victorian independent school has launched its third investigation in five months into allegations of "serious misconduct" in its boys' boarding houses. In a letter to parents today, Ballarat Grammar (BGS) said over the past fortnight new information had "come to light", and it would now begin an investigation. In February, reports emerged of allegations of student-on-student abuse within Dart House, prompting an independent inquiry into the school's culture. Victoria Police said it continued to investigate the incidents that occurred between 2023 and 2024 at Ballarat Grammar. In the letter, the school said it commissioned another independent investigation into the second boys' boarding facility, Wigan House. "The findings from this investigation have been reviewed and appropriate actions are now being implemented," the letter said. "[Ballarat Grammar School] continues to cooperate with Victoria Police, as requested. "While our independent processes are limited to current students and staff, we continue to urge anyone with historical concerns or allegations to contact the police directly." BGS said a full boarding review, conducted by Bradley Fenner, resulted in 32 recommendations, 31 of which had been adopted. The school said it had now implemented stronger supervision and staffing, enhanced training and oversight, upgraded security, and improved communication, reporting, cultural education and leadership. The one remaining recommendation was to rebuild or "significantly reconfigure Dart House", which is instead being considered by the school "in the context of longer-term infrastructure planning". BGS said "through both investigations and feedback from students, parents and staff, it became clear that a broader cultural shift was also needed".