However, despite speeding topping the list of driving offences in the Central West over the past fortnight, police have praised the many drivers who stuck to the road rules. 

During the 12 days of Operation Safe Arrival, which ran from December 21 to January 1, police targeted motorists doing the wrong thing on the road and double demerit points were in place for speeding, seatbelt, mobile phone and motorcycle helmet offences.

Provisional data shows that more motorists were caught speeding than any other offence during the operation, with 435 tickets issued to drivers across the Central West.

Of those, 174 were in the Orana Mid Western Police District, 161 in Chifley, 61 in the Central West and 39 in the Central North.

A number of drivers and passengers were caught not wearing their seatbelt with 47 fines issued across the region, including 27 in Chifley, 14 in Orana Mid Western, five in the Central North and one in the Central West.

In addition, a further 430 infringements were issued to Central West motorists for a range of offences (other than speeding).

Of these, 214 were issued in Chifley, 127 in Orana Mid Western, 63 in the Central North and 26 in the Central West Police District.

NSW Police Western Region Traffic Tactician Inspector Ben Macfarlane said drink driving had been a major focus for Central West officers during the festive period.

As of midnight on January 1, 35,254 breath test had been conducted, of these Orana Mid Western recorded 7248, followed by Chifley (7065), Central West (3674) and Central North (2437).

Across Western NSW, 57 motorists were caught drink driving which down on the 94 caught during the same operation last year.

Overall, Insp Macfarlane praised motorists for their driving during the hectic festive period and said good behaviour resulted in less crashes, injuries and fatalities in Western NSW compared to last year’s operation.

This year there was one fatality on the region’s roads (down from two), major crashes dropped from 90 to 66, and the number of people injured fell from 51 to 32.

“There were more breath tests [conducted] than [Operation] Safe Arrival last year,” Insp Macfarlane said.

“We’ve issued less infringements this year which is good.

“There’s just as many cops out there so it means than people are doing the right thing.”

Insp Macfarlane said secondary roads across the Central West were also a focus for officers this festive period.

He urged motorists to “focus on the core business of driving” into the future to help keep the road toll down.

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