The man was travelling along the Kidman Way about 7.45pm south of Cobar when his vehicle crossed to the wrong side of the road and rolled, police say.

The 61-year-old died at the scene.

Police in the western region had desperately been hoping to keep the roads fatality-free during the long weekend.

Western Region Traffic Tactician Inspector Peter McMenamin said it was a tragic accident during a bad period for motorists.

Inspector McMenamin said police had issued more speeding tickets and more infringement notices than the same period last year.

“In the Western Region there were 19 additional infringement notices for seat belt and an extra 37 speeding fines,” he said.

“Police also conducted an additional 6000 breath tests.”

In the Orana region, officers caught two people not wearing seat belts, issued 37 other infringements and 32 speeding tickets.

The worst incident involved a P-plater driver being caught travelling at 127 kilometres per hour on Fitzroy Street, a 50km/h zone. It resulted in an automatic licence confiscation and a $2384 fine. He was also issued an infringement notice for not displaying P-plates, another $257.

Inspector McMenamin said the number of crashes were down compared to the same period in 2016.

“That’s a very pleasing outcome although the number of people injured in those crashes was slightly higher than last year,” he said.

Asked if the rise in number of speeding tickets and infringements for offences like mobile phone use and not wearing a seat belt were the result of increased police activity or bad motorist behaviour, Inspector McMenamin said it was a combination of the two.

“That’s a disappointing outcome but hopefully everyone behaves themselves in the final hours of Operation Slow Down and we can avoid any more serious incidents,” he said.