COURT dates and hefty fines have been dished out to drivers caught breaking the road rules on the Australia Day long weekend.
Police have urged drivers to think of others when behind the wheel, after driver behaviour during the operation rang alarm bells.
Across the northern region - which extends from the Central Coast up to the Tweed district - 26,649 people were breath tested.
Testing uncovered 74 drink drivers and 164 drug drivers.
A 25-year-old man has been ordered to front court and had his licence suspended after he was allegedly clocked travelling at 160 kilometres per hour on the Pacific Highway at Jones Island.
He was pulled over and breath tested, and was arrested after allegedly recording a positive result.
Officers said he returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.168 at Taree Police Station and also returned a positive oral fluid test for cocaine.
He was hit with three driving charges and will front court in March.
Meanwhile, a 20-year-old man on his P-plates will have to front court in March accused of two cashes involving the ute he was allegedly driving along the New England Highway on Australia Day eve.
Emergency services were called shortly before 7pm to reports a ute had struck the rear of a Lexus at the Thomas Street intersection at Muswellbrook then fled the scene.
Police allege the ute then collided with a stationary Mazda further along the New England Highway.
The 20-year-old allegedly kept driving before his car hit a gutter and came to a stop on John Howe Circuit.
Police allege the man blew 0.278 - more than five times the legal blood alcohol limit for a fully-licensed driver - when he was arrested and taken to Muswellbrook Police Station.
He was charged with high-range drink driving, and failing to give details after a crash, and was granted conditional bail.
His licence was suspended.
Four teenagers were arrested after an allegedly stolen car led police on a chase through Hamilton and Adamstown before dawn on Australia Day.
Across the northern region, there were 975 speed infringements, 59 major crashes and one fatality.
Four people died in crashes in NSW, up on two for the same time period last year.
Double demerits were enforced during Operation Australia Day 2024, which ran from the early morning of January 25 to midnight on January 28.
Traffic and Highway Patrol Commander, Assistant Commissioner Brett McFadden, said police would target dangerous road behaviour even though holiday operations had now ended.
"We have continued to see a number of concerning incidents of dangerous driving across the summer holidays, and we will continue to have a zero-tolerance approach to law breakers," he said.
"The end of the double demerit operations isn't an excuse to forget the road rules, including the speed limit."
Drivers have been reminded school zones are back in effect from Tuesday, January 30.
