Following the great numbers presented on the road toll of Operation Slowdown, NSW police will continue their road safety campaigns through to the rest of the school holidays. Clocking in one minute before the start of the returning work week, the final numbers for Operation Slowdown 2004 rankled with five deaths, an increase on the paltry numbers of 2003 which bore witness to only two bodies fatally twisted around crumbled and smashed chassis.
In the first 24 hours two people managed to run a foul of collisions, one, an old lady who slammed head on with a Pantec truck and a motorcyclist who ended up hugging a tree at too high a velocity at Urbenville. Closing out with fifth in the tally was a motorcyclist who lost a duel with a Toyota Landcruiser late into the running of the Operation. Taking place near Ballina was a match between a sedan and a truck. The just-shy-of-50-year-old driver of the sedan won't be having another birthday after losing that match. In Oakville another tree helped with the numbers as it claimed a life to take the tally to four on the third. Closing out with fifth in the tally was a motorcyclist who lost a duel with a Toyota Landcruiser late into the running of the Operation.
Operation Northroads, picking its numbers from the Pacific and New England Highways might be hoping to have some of the good luck seen in Slowdown as it rounds off the tally count when it finishes on October 10.
Written on Tuesday, 5 October 2004