POLICE have warned locals risk losing their licence on the spot as double demerits kick in at midnight on Thursday for the festive break.
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Highway Patrol Senior Sergeant Brett Davies said Operation Safe Arrival had started last week, with double demerits to run until midnight on New Years Day.
“It’s double demerits, slow down or you will be caught and you will lose your licence,” he said.
“They’re there for a reason, to make people think about what they’re doing when they get behind the wheel, and it intensifies the fact that it is a significantly busy period on the roads.”
Since the operation started, police from Barwon, New England and Oxley had already carried out 4,000 RBTs, detected nine people drink driving, issued 12 fines for not wearing seatbelts and 197 speeding tickets.
“If you’re detected 20km per hour over the speed limit that is eight demerit points in double demerits, and that could mean the risk of losing your licence,” Senior Sergeant Davies said.