Police recorded a 57 per cent rise in speeding offences across the state during the recent Operation Safe Arrival road safety campaign, with more than 1220 drivers caught breaking the rules on speed limits.
The final numbers from the 12 days of Operation Safe Arrival – Tasmania Police's annual Christmas-New Year road safety initiative - show a concerning increase in the number of speeding offences.
In the 2025-26 campaign, conducted from 22 December, 2025 to 2 January, 2026, police detected 1222 speeding drivers. This was 445 drivers more than the 777 intercepted across 2024-25 Christmas-New Year operation.
In the regional breakdown, there were 424 drivers caught exceeding the speed limit in the Southern District, 385 in the Northern District and 413 in the Western District.
Tasmania Police Acting Inspector Penny Reardon urged motorists to adjust their behaviour and promised that police would be continuing patrols and targeted traffic operations to improve road safety.
In other key areas of Operation Safe Arrival, there were:
15,700 Random breath tests conducted (12,678 in 2024-25)
53 Drink-drivers detected (53)
342 Oral Fluid Tests (OFT) conducted (232)
95 Positive OFTs detected (74)
34 Seatbelt offences (20)
42 Mobile phone offences (37)
Sadly, there were two deaths as the result of crashes – a 72 year-old male motorcyclist at Campbell Town, and a 15-year-old male e-bike rider near Don. Both crashes happened on Wednesday, 31 December.
With 2026 off to a tragic start in Tasmania following three deaths in two separate crashes at the weekend, Acting Inspector Reardon has called on the community to join with police to improve road safety.
"It is really alarming that we have already recorded three fatalities in the new year. It's just very sad for those families, but it's also very frightening for Tasmania Police," she said.
"We will continue to work hard on road safety every day and hope that our messaging can get through and that people can start to take responsibility for their actions, because road safety is everybody's responsibility.
"Many of the crashes we have seen over the past 12 months, if they involve the fatal five, then they are preventable crashes.
"So, if people do slow down, if people put their seat belts on, if they put their mobile phones away, don't drive when you've been taking illicit substances, don't drive with alcohol in your system, then you're going to actually reduce your risk of a serious or fatal crash and also reduce the risk to other road users."
To report hooning or dangerous driving, contact police on 131 444 or report anonymously through Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, or online at crimestopperstas.com.au
