Westgate Highway Patrol will roll out more pushbike patrols after a day on pedal power in Werribee’s CBD detected more than 50 offences.
Two police officers spent last Wednesday riding up and down Watton Street, booking 18 drivers for using mobile phones while behind the wheel, 16 people for not wearing seatbelts, 10 bike riders for not wearing helmets, and seven others for other offences.
The pair also attended two car accidents – one a rear-end collision, the other occurred when a driver opened a car door that was hit by a passing car.
Senior Constable Marcus Owen from Westgate Highway Patrol said he was disappointed to come across so many offences in one shift.
He said pushbike patrols would start happening across the Westgate division – which encompasses Wyndham, Maribyrnong and Hobsons Bay – a couple of times a week.
“Victoria Police have been using pushbikes for a while, but it’s a relatively new addition for our area. It’s a fairly sad indictment on people’s attitude to driving that we can go out and, over the course of one day, detect so many offences.
“(On) our pushbikes, we can get into areas that aren’t easily policed by car.
“Not only that, people aren’t looking for us (on bikes) – they’ll spot a police car a mile away.
“We will be out and about on a more regular basis,” Senior Constable Owen said.
“We would hope people pay more attention to what they’re doing when they’re behind the wheel of a car – put their seatbelts on before they drive away, put their phone in their handbag or in their pocket, and don’t touch it – so that we can happily sail on by and give them a wave instead of a ticket.”
Senior Constable Owen said locals and traders had embraced the bike patrols, taking the opportunity to talk to police about local issues.
