It comes as operation Drink Drive II begins at midnight tonight targeting rural roads.

Following a meeting between about 30 senior police officers and NSW Police traffic commander Assistant Commissioner John Hartley in September, the western region has been divided into three zones which will each be responsible for forming a strike force team, Dubbo Senior Sergeant Mal Unicomb said yesterday.

Orana Local Area Command comes under the central zone of the western region.

Sergeant Unicomb said there was a follow-up meeting in Coonabarabran last Thursday to “fine-tune” the strategies discussed at the September meeting.

He said the plan was to “saturate areas of the road” with highway patrol cars on a monthly basis in order to crack down on irresponsible driving.

They also plan to send highway patrol cars from bigger centres like Dubbo to more rural areas.

“So the areas that have staffing issues will have far more resources,” he said.

“It’s a way of using the resources we’ve got to the best advantage.”

Sergeant Unicomb said the strategy would continue until further notice.

“We can’t afford to take our eye off the ball,” he said. “If we see a decrease in road fatalities, we need to keep going, but we need the motoring public to be more careful.

“The public aren’t taking enough responsibility for themselves.

“I felt sorry for the families of the 80-odd people lost this year. It will be their first Christmas without their loved ones.

“We can only do so much, people need to stop doing stupid things.”

With this year’s road toll climbing well above last year’s record low of 386, motorists can expect a formidable police presence on rural roads to address the concerning rise in fatal crashes.

Rural roads will be targeted during Operation Drink Driving II which will begin at midnight tonight