Victoria Police will conduct an extra 25,000 roadside drug tests every year, expand the use of technology to catch unauthorised drivers and reduce paperwork so police spend more time on the road in a major safety boost.
The road policing uplift, funded by the Transport Accident Commission as part of Victoria’s road safety partnership, includes five key projects valued at a combined $21.1 million.
Road policing assistant commissioner Glenn Weir said this is a massive investment from the Transport Accident Commission and there is no doubt it will save lives.
“We will be testing more drivers for drugs than ever before, the boost also allows us to enhance technology across the force to ensure our people have the tools they need to enforce effectively and make the roads safer,” he said.
“This includes targeting behaviours that contribute to road trauma like speed, impaired driving, high-risk driving and unauthorised driving.”
The projects will be progressively rolled out over the next five years, with some already underway.
The boost includes:
An additional 25,000 roadside drug tests to be conducted each year, bringing the total number of roadside drug tests to 175,000 annually – valued at $4.536m
The delivery of a Roadside Impaired Driver Evidence (RIDE) application to reduce the manual paperwork required at the roadside for processing drug and alcohol data collection – valued at $5.841m
An additional 88 vehicles fitted with automatic numberplate recognition (ANPR) technology. These will be based at 24-hour police stations to assist with detecting dangerous and unauthorised drivers – valued at $6.391m
The replacement and upgrade of police in-car video technology in 98 vehicles. This will be allocated to one-member stations in regional and remote locations – valued at $2.842m
The replacement of 123 evidentiary breath testing instruments used to detect drink drivers and purchasing an additional 27 new instruments – valued at $1.49m
Assistant commissioner Weir said the development of new technology to automate administrative processes at the roadside also means police can spend less time on paperwork and more time patrolling the roads.
“We remain committed to working alongside our road safety partners to reduce the number of fatal and serious injuries on our roads.”
The rollout of the additional roadside drug testing has already begun, with Victoria Police on track to conduct a record 175,000 roadside drug tests this financial year.
Drug driving is one of Victoria’s leading causes of road trauma.
There were 793 collisions recorded last financial year where the driver was drug impaired, and 8294 motorists detected for drug driving over the period.
To support the additional testing, a new application will be developed to automate administrative processes relating to alcohol and drug testing.
This will create significant efficiencies for police with more time dedicated to patrolling the roads.
The addition of 88 vehicles fitted with automatic numberplate recognition technology and allocated to all 24-hour stations across Victoria will ensure general duties officers have access to this capability to detect and apprehend dangerous and unauthorised drivers and remove them from roads.
ANPR technology is already used in close to 250 police vehicles across Victoria.
Officers located at 98 one-member stations across the state will receive upgraded in-car video technology to assist with capturing visual records when conducting enforcement.
In-car video footage is used to capture unsafe driving and can be used to prosecute and remove dangerous drivers from the roads.
Police across the state will also benefit from the replacement of 123 older evidentiary breath testing instruments and the addition of 27 new instruments.
Evidentiary breath tests are a critical tool for alcohol impaired driving enforcement and used to obtain evidence after a driver returns a positive result on a preliminary breath test at the roadside.
All five projects are underway and will be completed by the 2029-30 financial year.
Victoria Police, along with the Transport Accident Commission, Department of Transport and Planning, Department of Justice and Community Safety, and the Department of Health, form the road safety partnership responsible for delivering the Victorian Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030.
The strategy aims to halve road deaths by 2030 and eliminate deaths on Victorians roads by 2050.
