Browse wBW ad-free: bercome a member for just $10/year!

Police plan National Day of Action

Victoria Solo Unit motorcycle police uniforms fatalities day of national day of action

Police in every state plan to immediately increase police presence on regional roads leading up to a “National Day of Action” on Tuesday 27 August 2019.

We contacted the police in each state to find out what a National Day of Action will involve, but they have not revealed anything specific.

One police media unit replied: “The National Day of Action is still in the planning stages. We hope to provide updates as the day approaches.”

National forum

However, they have all pledged to increase police presence on rural roads after yesterday’s national meeting in Victoria of all state road policing deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners.

Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Wendy Steendam said there was “great value in the jurisdictions all coming together to workshop the challenges and consider short-term solutions at a national level, as well as developing some longer-term collaborative strategies”.

“From discussions it was clear there are some common challenges that we are all facing,” she says.

“A particular trend is the increasing trauma on our rural and regional roads, as well as the emergence of drug driving.”

Victorian Police have also previously called for a reduction of 100km/h unsealed rural road speeds to 80km/h.

National Day of action

Yesterday’s forum involving all police jurisdictions agreed to participate in a National Day of Action on 27 August.

They also resolved to “work together to look at ways that data and research can be shared, as well as a coordinated communication approach for road policing messaging in the community”.

It is unclear what this means for the motoring public, but we suspect greater road policing and more speed camera deployments.

Tougher penalties

Cops mobile phone penalties day of action
Police patrol for mobile phone misuse

The forum also follows a recent national summit on driver destruction in Queensland.

After the summit, several states said they would consider tougher laws on illegal mobile phone use while driving.

Victoria also included tougher penalties for all motorists for a variety of offences including failure to fit an L plate on a motorcycle and failure learner riders to securely fasten their hi-vis vest.

The Victorian Motorcycle Council has objected to the L plate offence and called for the mandatory hi-vis vest rule for learner riders to be scrapped.

  1. These Muppets are absulte droppings. Dropping the speed limit in regional areas to 80kmh…. are you SERIOUS!!!! Where do these dickheads get such stupid f#@king ideas?? Absolutely no idea.

    1. They’re talking about unsealed country roads. It’s a sensible idea. Most people don’t have the skills to drive safely at 100kmh on gravel.

      1. It’s a stupid idea!
        If you’re not confident driving on dirt roads you can always drive slower, there’s no requirement to drive at the speed limit, whatever it is set at!!!
        At the end of the day you should drive/ride to the conditions…

        I’d actually like to know what percentage of the road toll was attributable to speed on unsealed roads???
        Not too many I bet… :/

        I get sick of these knee jerk reactions…

          1. Care to back that up? :/

            I’ve learnt long ago, don’t believe everything the police tell you…they’re usually pushing an agenda…
            In this case they usually just quote the high incidence of accidents on regional/rural roads…there’s never any mention of what percentage occurred on “unsealed” roads.

            Just to backup my “not too many” comment…I read a report on rural accidents in Queensland and they quote: “From 2005 to December 2014, 2.8% of crashes in Queensland occurred on unsealed roads”.
            2.8%…that’s not too many in my book…
            I have no reason to believe Victoria’s figures wouldn’t be similar. Happy to be proven wrong though… :/

  2. This is a big country and to get anywhere at 80klm in rural areas is simply not practical. It would however be a great revenue earner for the police. I am all for safety but it has to be through education.

  3. The idea of dropping speed limits on country roads to 80 kph is so laughable that whoever thought it up should be sacked for even mentioning it. If roads are that bad that modern vehicles cannot travel at 100 to 110 kph the government of the day should also be sacked for incompetence or are they corrupt?
    Think about this, a trip via car or motorcycle from Mildura to Melbourne is 543 kilometres (according to Google maps) now the estimated time for the trip is 5 hours 53 minutes, which is approx 90 kph average. The same trip at 80 kph would now take over 6 hours 50 minutes, even assuming you could average 80 kph (which you wouldn’t because of town speed limits etc. So the exhaustion factor would come in & we would end up with even higher road accidents that we do now.
    The stupidity of the entire idea of 80 kph speed limits is unbelievable as well as gifting the next election to any party which opposes these draconian ideas.
    Governments need to get off their backsides & repair our roads which fuel taxes pay for as well as adding more overtaking lanes so vehicles can overtake safely.

      1. “unsealed roads” … given the state of a lot of roads in this State, they’re pretty close to that 😉

  4. Hurting people hurt people, Absolute power Corrupts Absolutely, the Hurting people that make these decisions are envious of the motorcyclist lifestyle & are not allowed & to Timid Ride themselves & thus inflict their hurt upon the Motorcyclist in slow dripping ‘legislation” that’s painful , changing the rules constantly -ow!
    The hurting people read all the motorcycle mags/sites look longingly @ the motorcycle lifestyle out of their reach & enact legislation, to Hurt.
    The Power that ‘they’ wield is unlimited & pity the Police whom Must enforce this under the banner of Safety or loose their job & make no mistake that the police change too, due to the constraints of this & find themselves friendless & hated due to these National Day of (Discrimination) Action, could be wrong but my 2 cents anyway.

  5. I like the sound of ‘Driver destruction’ so we can do it ourselves?..can we carry firearms?

  6. If the Police in any state or territory are interested in “Road Safety” and more and bigger fines with speed reductions as more than about 5% of their focus they are NOT actually interested in Road Safety.

    Fines that get increases in the dollars or demerit points allocated is just the “Big Stick thinking (or rather NO THINKING) that has prevailed for some decades and IS NOT WORKING.
    The “Road Safety Councils” Police, RMS of NSW (VicRoads) and all the rest NEED NEW THINKING, not the same old thinking that is not working.

  7. I grew up driving on dirt roads and defy any one to be in control on them at 100kph unless you happen to be a WRC driver and even they crash. so 80 kph is no big deal it is just the excuse to fine people i don’t like – and then why is it that “tougher penalties” is always made to appear as if it is the reluctant answer to failure of the public to accept some government impost?
    But I did like the cops leathers in the accompanying pix to this article but I bet the public cant get any of those.

  8. Those that have a one vehicle accident are NOT DRIVING TO THE CONDITIONS. If they were driving or riding to the Conditions there would have been no accident.
    Yesterday I was riding in the Singleton, Bulga, Broke some of the roads had a clear area 20 to 50 metres wide with no shrubs and bushes for Roos, Wallabies to suddenly appear from behind & I was at the speed limit. When I came to area where shrubs and bushes were closer and almost at the edge of the road I slowed so that if needed I could stop or at least be going a lot slower had an animal appeared & there was a risk of collision.
    A rider that passed me at one stage had a close shave by narrowly being missed by some (I think) Wallabies crossing from right to left, he rode through the mob of 6 Wallabies. 2 Crossed in front of him and four behind as he rode. He stopped a few hundred metres up the road & when I stopped, I could see he was a little shaken but unscathed.
    That fellow was NOT RIDING TO THE CONDITIONS and would have paid dearly had luck not been on his side.

  9. Heavier fines, in my opinion are not the answer. Although it’s the easy go to option in Australia for most problems. There is simply not enough ongoing education in motoring. A more inteligent education process for all road users, not just a silly short term TV ad campaign, but throughout the drivers / riders lifetime.
    I’m thinking regular defensive courses, especially after a “at fault” road misdemeanour. We all pick up bad habits and refresher courses are used in many other aspects of life to great effect.

Comments are closed.