Operation Safe Arrival: Highway patrol officers detect speeding drivers in Tamworth, Gunnedah

But the police blitz has done little to deter some drivers who’ve been caught red handed.

A 17-year-old boy was hospitalised after crashing a Yamaha bike at speed on the Oxley Highway about 15km out of Gunnedah.

A highway patrol officer allegedly detected the teen at more than 140km per hour on Wednesday morning.

By the time officers caught up to the teen, he’d already fallen from the motorbike after a collision which involved three cars.

He allegedly ran from the scene but was later taken to hospital. Investigations are continuing and police expect to lay charges.

A Tamworth teenager is also expected to be charged after allegedly leading highway patrol officers on a pursuit in East Tamworth.

Officers attempted to stop the P-plater about 1am after he allegedly disobeyed a stop sign.

He sped off, and police claim he drove through several stop signs and hit a dip at speed before he damaged his car which malfunctioned and stopped.

He’s been questioned by police.

On Friday morning, highway officers arrested a 48-year-old man after he was stopped for a stationary random breath test on Armidale Rd, Tamworth. 

Checks revealed he was allegedly disqualified from driving until 2019.

He was arrested just after 8.30am and taken to Tamworth Police Station where he was charged and refused bail by police.

Operation Safe Arrival has been running since December 16 and the numbers are climbing.

More than 5,300 RBTs have been carried out, with 16 people issued for seatbelt and restraint offences including one driver who was detected with a six-year-old child asleep on the back seat, unrestrained. 

“Drivers need to ensure they and their passengers are restrained, because they will get booked and if that passenger is old enough to hold a licence, they too will get a ticket,” Sergeant Michael Buko said.

In Gunnedah, highway officers found a man driving a B-double grain truck talking on the phone. 

He was stopped and questioned before checks revealed he had never held a licence in any state.

Thirty-three people have returned positive random drug tests and 11 have been caught drink driving.

Police said more than 270 have been booked for speeding. And it’s the high speeds that have police concerned – so too the drivers that aren’t paying attention.

“Whilst it is a danger … it’s also the drivers that are doing 115-116km per hour and they don’t realise, because that inattention can cause a crash in seconds,” Senior Sergeant Brett Davies said

Senior Sergeant Davies said tiredness has been to blame for a significant number of fatal crashes in the region.

“Tiredness is running at about 50 per cent of all crashes,” he said.

“A lot of it out here is inattention, it’s a big one.”