POLICE have not ruled out a link between two pursuits that began at Dubbo and had to be terminated when they became too dangerous.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Western Region Highway Patrol boss Inspector Jeff Boon said police attempted to stop a Mitsubishi Mirage seen driving in an erratic manner in O'Donnell Street about 1.30am on Saturday morning but it sped off.
The same day, a Highway Patrol officer began to chase a silver and black Mitsubishi Mirage along the Mitchell Highway when the driver failed to stop for a random breath test about 8am.
He appealed for any witnesses or anyone with information about the vehicle to contact Dubbo Police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
When the Daily Liberal spoke with Inspector Boon yesterday, he said the Western Region had so far remained fatality-free during this year's holiday traffic operation known as Operation Safe Arrival, an unusual statistic he welcomed.
"Sadly up to this point four people have died on the roads in NSW but that number is well down on the same time last year when 11 people had died," he said.
"Going back 25 years or so, we had 60 people die on the roads in that holiday period, it's an astounding difference."
There were, however, examples of people doing the wrong thing on the roads at the weekend.
In Dubbo on Saturday a 27-year-old woman stopped for a random breath test who was found to be driving with an expired licence.
At 10.20am the same day, a 61-year-old Molong man was detected by Lachlan Highway Patrol in Parkes driving a semi-trailer loaded with bales of hay surrounding a table-top vehicle.
The vehicle was loaded with large square bales of hay towards the rear and back of the trailer. Loaded in the middle of the trailer between the hay bales was a table-top Rodeo utility.
The ute was only held in place between the two loaded portions of hay bales, and was not tied down or restrained in any other way.
The driver is due to appear before Parkes Local Court in relation to several load restraint breaches.
All up there had been 41,800 random breath tests conducted by officers in the Western Region since Operation Safe Arrival kicked off on December 19, Inspector Boon said.
There had been 969 drivers caught speeding in the Western Region while police had nabbed 114 people for seatbelt offences.
When it came to individual local area commands, drivers in Dubbo and the Orana LAC in general had been well behaved compared with some of the other western region centres, Inspector Boon said.
"Normally Tamworth and Armidale are better behaved but Orana's results are relatively pleasing," he said.
