The death of a 45-year-old woman in a single-vehicle accident at Woodenbong early yesterday morning took the state’s Easter weekend road toll to three.
The woman was driving her car along Clarence Way when it left the road and rolled at about 1.30am. A family member found the woman dead in the car a short time later.
Police are investigating the accident and will prepare a report for the Coroner.
Meanwhile, 43 motorists were charged with drink-driving offences after the third day of the police’s long-weekend Operation Tortoise, which began at midnight on Thursday and runs tills midnight tonight.
That was 71 fewer than for the same time last year.
During the weekend, a P-plate driver was charged with excessive speeding after he was detected driving at 150km/h in a 100km/h zone on the Pacific Highway at Ballina. At the time there were four passengers in the vehicle.
Police conducted a total of 51, 086 breath tests and also detected 1,084 motorists speeding and issued 140 drivers infringement notices for seatbelt and other restraint offences (23 more than in 2011).
At Lake Macquarie on Saturday, a police patrol pulled over a vehicle but the driver reversed at high speed and mounted the gutter on the opposite side of the road, narrowly missing a police vehicle. The driver and front seat passenger ran from the area and were unable to be detained by police but a search of the vehicle later revealed more than five kilograms of cannabis.
At Frederickton on Saturday, police stopped a car for alleged speeding offences and the driver then returned a positive roadside breathtest reading. A search of the vehicle revealed two live, fully grown Merino ewes in the boot of the vehicle.
Inquiries into both incidents continue.
Double demerit points are in effect for all speeding and restraint offences during the operation.
. A search of the vehicle revealed two live, fully grown Merino ewes in the boot of the vehicle isn’t that interesting I guess that should be an animal rights offence!