As South Australians gear up to enjoy the long weekend, Police are pleading with motorists to drive safely and stay alive.
With 15 lives already lost on our roads this year, Police are calling for extra vigilance in regional areas with a staggering 80% of this year's deaths being on regional roads.
The March long weekend in 2017 and 2018 saw one fatality on the roads per year. Over the March long weekend in 2020, this increased to two fatalities on the road and there were three fatalities in 2021. The last fatality-free March long weekend on the roads was in 2019 and police are hopeful that we can see another fatality-free long weekend this year.
Of the hardest hit are the Hills Fleurieu and York Mid North Local Service Areas where five people have lost their lives in road trauma this year. A further 15 people have sustained life changing injuries on those roads.
The Hills Fleurieu Local Service Area (HFLSA), which encompasses popular holiday destinations such as Goolwa, Kangaroo Island, Victor Harbour and the Adelaide Hills, have been host to 14% of the lives lost on the state's roads over the past five years, including four of the 15 lives lost already this year.
The Yorke Mid North Local Service Area covering other popular holiday destinations such as Yorke Penninsula, Clare Valley and the mid north of the state also sees increased traffic activity during holiday periods and has recorded the second highest incidence of road trauma on the March long weekend over the past five years.
Assistant Commissioner Ian Parrott said the long weekend, fine weather and easing of restrictions associated with COVID-19 would attract welcome visitors to the regions and increased foot traffic in metropolitan areas and warned that police will be on high alert for irresponsible and dangerous driving behaviours.
"Operation Safe Long weekend focuses on road users across the whole state and with so many lives lost on regional roads, we'll be extra vigilant about drivers or riders who choose to do the wrong thing on regional roads. Members of the public should be aware there will be static drink and drug drive testing across the entire state and any police officer in a patrol car can test for drink and drug driving at any given time."
"Our neighbours, colleagues, families and friends are the people dying on our roads. We have to stop taking unnecessary risks and endangering lives. People must plan ahead to ensure a safe return home. This includes planning for any possible delays in arranging for ride shares and checking the Department of Infrastructure and Transport website for any road works that could bring stress and panic behind the wheel which could lead to catastrophic consequences.
"It's not just the visitors who need to take care, two out of three lives lost on regional roads are people who live in regional communities. Most people do the right thing but police have been appalled at the recent high incidence of dangerous and selfish behaviours on our region's roads, such as drink driving," AC Parrott said.
While this is a State wide Operation, a particular focus will be in the Adelaide Hills and Fleurieu where so far this year, police have detected 67 drink drivers and 23 drug drivers in the Hills Fleurieu region.
Over the past five years, 66 lives have been lost in the Hills Fleurieu region with 24% of those being attributed to drink or drug driving. Nearly a quarter are attributed to speeding and a further 44% have been attributed to driver distraction.
So far this year, 25% of lives lost in the Hills Fleurieu region have had drink or drug driving as a factor and 50% are attributed to distraction.
In addition to the four lives lost in the region this year, there have been 14 serious injuries. Sadly, all of these incidents were preventable.
Police are pleading with the community to celebrate the long weekend safely by planning ahead and being patient with other road users and pedestrians.
