QUEANBEYAN Police have praised local motorists following a relatively quiet Christmas and New Year’s period on the roads.
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Police were out in force across the region during Operation Safe Arrival, which ran from December 20 to January 2.
Inspector Chris Varley said despite a high volume of traffic travelling through the area during the holiday period, road users were generally well behaved.
“Generally speaking we were pleased that incidents of road trauma were minimal considering the volume of traffic through our area,” Inspector Varley said.
“Certainly [during Operation Safe Arrival], the number of incidents on the road was well down on previous years and driver behaviour was much improved.
“It appears as though the message about driver’s taking responsibility and doing things like managing their fatigue, combined with a very high visibility police presence has had a positive effect.”
State wide, NSW police performed nearly 600,000 random breath tests during the Christmas/New Year period with 960 drink driving charges laid alongside nearly 12,000 speeding infringements.
Fewer people were killed on the state’s roads over the course of Operation Safe Arrival compared to previous years with the holiday road toll standing at 10, down from 17 in 2012/13.
There was one fatality in the local region after a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle near Braidwood on Christmas Eve.
Inspector Varley, meanwhile, said Queanbeyan had experienced an extremely quiet New Years with many residents instead travelling interstate for the holidays.