THE HARD hitting advertising campaign throughout the Christmas period has had little effect on drivers in the New England Local Area Command, according to head of highway patrol, Senior Constable Grahame Brown.

Sen Const Brown said he was at a loss to explain the 1495 speeding offences and the 14 drink driving offences over the course of Operation Safe Arrival.

“I am really scratching my head, the graphic ads have had no effect at all, people have just seemed to ignore them, it’s very disappointing,” he said.

“The number of speeding offences in particular is the most disturbing thing.”

Operation Safe Arrival ran from December 22 to January 5 throughout the Local Area Command, which runs from Bendemeer in the south out to Ashford and Delungra, east to Ebor and north to the Queensland border.

“The operation targeted speed, alcohol, fatigue and occupant seatbelts,” he said.

“We had 14 people ticketed for not wearing seatbelts and 27 other traffic charges including driving unregistered or uninsured vehicles, as well as the speeding and alcohol related charges.”

There were two listed fatalities in the Local Area Command, the first an elderly woman who succumbed to her injuries in hospital after an accident near Bendemeer, and a 32 year old man from Inverell, who was killed after falling from a horse on the Tingha Road.

In light of the increased road toll, the NSW Police, the Roads and Traffic Authority, the NRMA, the Motor Accidents Authority and community representatives have been formed into a taskforce to review the causes of the toll, and report back to Minister for Roads Carl Scully, by the end of February.

“I will ask the task force to review fatal accidents and report back on the risk factors involved before the next holiday period at Easter,” Mr Scully said.

“It will also review advertising and education programs to see how these can be refocused or improved.”

© 2001 Armidale Express

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