Bad drivers prompt toll warning

By Jade Lawton
MACHETE blades, rolled cars, high-speed pursuits and a drink-driver caught twice in two hours were some of the crimes detected on Cardinia roads this week.
Cardinia’s Traffic Management Unit discovered the 50-centimetre machete blade when they pulled over a vehicle on McGregor Road for a seatbelt infringement at 12.59pm on 14 May.
A 16-year-old passenger, from Pakenham, became agitated and police noticed the weapon next to him.
The weapon was seized and the youth has been charged with seatbelt offences and possession of a controlled weapon.
On 15 May, an 18-year-old Leongatha woman had a lucky escape when her car rolled at least twice in a single-vehicle smash on Kooweerup Road, landing upside-down in a drain.
The woman was uninjured and will appear in the Dandenong Magistrates’ Court for dangerous driving.
Sergeant Nigel Atkins, of Cardinia’s TMU, said the woman was lucky to be alive.
“She is lucky to have escaped injury. In winter those drains are full of water,” he said.
Sgt Atkins described a 35-year-old Wonthaggi man as “fool of the month” after he was found, twice in two hours, drink-driving an unregistered car on 17 May.
The man was first caught at 10.59pm, at the corner of Princes Highway and Racecourse Road, and found with a blood alcohol reading of 0.149, three times the legal limit.
He was processed at the Pakenham Police Station, released, then intercepted again at 12.20am on the Princes Highway. He now faces multiple charges.
“He will be in the walking club for a long time, I would say,” Sgt Atkins said.
On 16 May, the TMU impounded a 20-year-old Pakenham man’s vehicle after he hooned away from traffic lights – while a marked police car was in clear view on the other side.
The man’s vehicle was impounded and he has been charged with careless driving.
Police also dealt with two men, both unlicensed, who were riding identical, unregistered trail-bikes on Railway Road, Kooweerup, on Saturday.
On Saturday the TMU had to abandon a high-speed chase when a light blue sedan reached speeds of up to 200 km/h on Ballarto Road.
Sgt Atkins said anti-social behaviour was prevalent on the shire’s roads.
“In essence … this is ignorance, it is impatience, it is anti-social conduct,” he said “Cardinia Shire has had three road deaths so far this year – the road toll is at three, which is three times more than what it was this time last year."
Sgt Atkins said that with motorists behaving badly, he feared the toll would rise before the year was out.
People really needed to think if they wanted to be the next victim, Sgt Atkins said.