Police blitz for Anzac weekend

South West police will ramp up its traffic operations for the Anzac Day long weekend after one of the worst Easter weekend road tolls.

Five people died in the State last week with four coming from regional areas.

Two of those were in the South West – in Capel and Margaret River – while the other happened near Collie in the Great Southern police district.

South West Traffic acting officer in charge Sgt Rob Malcolm said there would be officers from the South West and Perth on the roads this weekend.

This will include the booze bus which has been sent from the metropolitan region. Drivers will also be faced with the threat of losing double demerit points from offences this weekend.

Sgt Malcolm said there were four serious or fatal crashes in the region during Easter and each would be reviewed.

“Obviously one death is too many, ” he said

“We have to look at each crash as being a unique investigation to see how and why they happened and to look at what we can do as police to prevent this from happening in the future.”

Sgt Malcolm said poor choices were contributing to serious and fatal crashes – including drivers not wearing seatbelts or driving tired.

“We do debrief every crash we are involved in that is of a serious or fatal nature, ” he said.

“But it is so difficult to try and prevent ones where people have made poor choices and have not done things that would have prevented their death.”

A 61-year-old man died after his car crashed on Bussell Highway near Capel on Monday night.

The driver was thrown from the vehicle as it hit the guard rail on the bridge over Tren Creek.

While investigations are continuing, police do not believe there was another vehicle involved in the crash.

A 20-year-old man died near Collie on Thursday but his passenger was saved by Bunbury man Thomas Alvarez. An East Perth man died in a crash near Margaret River on Sunday night.