"Everyone should be able to go to work and make it home to our families safely."
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This is the message police are giving to the community, with statistics revealing that Victorians are continuing to put emergency services at risk as they speed past incident scenes, despite a law requiring them to slow down to a safe speed when passing.
The Courier has obtained statistics from Victoria Police, which highlights just how widespread the problem is across the state.
In the year 2017-18, police issued 382 infringements across the state. The number of infringements increased in the year 2018-19, with police issuing 478 infringements.
Both years, the most infringements were issued in Western Region Division 4 - Horsham and Grampians region, with 67 infringements issued in 2017-18 and 85 in 2018-19.
In the Ballarat region, 14 infringements were issued in 2017-18 and 20 infringements last financial year.
The infringement results in a $289 on the spot fine.
Ballarat Highway Patrol's Acting Senior Sergeant Stuart Gale previously worked in the Grampians region and said police had enforced the rule there for a long time, due to its proximity to the South Australian border.
In South Australia, legislation has been in place requiring motorists to slow to 25km/h when passing emergency vehicles since 2014.
"When the law came in [in Victoria] in 2017, I thought it was about time as I had seen it work so well elsewhere," he said.
"I have been enforcing it for a long time and am always a big advocate for it."
While he said the law could be difficult to enforce at times due to police already dealing with another incident, such as a speeding driver or a car accident, coupled with the high volume of offending as well as reasons of parity - if police pull one driver over for flouting the law they really should intercept them all - he said it was a necessary law that needs to be in place for the safety of all emergency service workers.
"I have genuine concern for the safety of all emergency service personnel operating on roads and on the road related areas because people are not complying with the legislation," he said.
"Everyone deserves to work in a safe environment."
He said police, as an enforcement agency, were looking at ways they could better enforce the law, including the use of technology already at hand.
Acting Senior Sergeant Gale said he often came across drivers ignoring this road rule. Just the other day he had intercepted a driver for speeding through the roadworks on the Western Freeway at Bacchus Marsh, and dozens of cars sped past him while he was on the roadside.
"Drivers need to be aware of their surroundings and should not be distracted by mobile phones. Drivers should always be driving at an appropriate speed and driving to the conditions," he said.
He said many drivers say they don't see the incident ahead until the person in front of them brakes, but this is in fact breaking another road rule - following too closely.
While he acknowledged there had been minimal enforcement of the law in this region due to the difficulty associated with members being caught up with the incident at hand, he said it would be an enforcement focus in future.
"Enough is enough. There has been enough time - almost three years - for people to get used to the law.
"We will be more proactive about enforcing this law and excuses that people don't know about it just won't stick."
The road rule was introduced in Victoria in July 2017, after enforcement and emergency service representative bodies, including the Police Association, raised concerns about the significant risks posed from passing vehicles as members responded to incidents.
The law dictates that if a motorist is approaching and passing an enforcement, emergency or escort vehicle - either stationary or moving slowly - with red, blue or magenta flashing flights or with a siren sounding, the motorist must slow down and must not increase their speed until they are a safe distance from the scene.
Motorists must also give way to any emergency service person on foot in the immediate vicinity of the vehicle.
The safest speed for motorists to slow down to is below 40km/h.
The rule does not apply to drivers on the opposite side of the road to an incident, if it is separated by a median strip.
Western Region Road Policing Inspector, Michael Phyland, said everyone should be able to go to work and return home to their families.
"This is no different for emergency service workers, particularly those who undertake their duties on the roadside as a part of their everyday work," he said.
Roads and roadsides are risky, dangerous and ever-changing environments. They continually present dangers for our police, stationary vehicles on the side of the road and for members of the public who may be providing assistance.
- Western Region Road Policing Inspector Michael Phyland
Since the rule was introduced, a number of community surveys have been conducted to understand awareness of the rule.
"This research showed that the awareness of the rule was actually quite high. It was great to see that people travelling outside the metropolitan area, and where speed is often higher, knew they had to slow down to 40km/h when passing emergency service workers," Inspector Phyland said.
"However just last financial year 460 people were fined for not complying.
"It is one thing to know about the rule, but to adhere to it is another. Awareness is the first step. I would like to see us not having to issue any fines to the community. That means they are driving at a safe speed and letting us do our job in a safe working environment."
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