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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
Jessica Belzycki

More than 300 driving offences issued in Hunter as part of state operation

Red light speed camera on Pacific Highway and Madison Drive Charlestown. File picture by Simone De Peak

NSW police issued 117 speeding offences, and 15 drunk driving related-charges in the Hunter region as part of a four-day statewide blitz.

Operation RAID (Remove All Impaired Drivers) targeted drunk driving, drug driving, fatigue and other traffic offences following "concerning" road trauma trends in NSW.

The operation started last Thursday September 5 and ended on Sunday September 8 at 4am.

The Newcastle-Hunter Sector Highway Patrol including Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and the Hunter Valley conducted 6786 random breath tests, and 225 random drug tests.

Results included 14 positive drug tests, seven seatbelt and helmet offences, eight mobile telephone and distraction offences, and 182 other offences.

Police said a 17-year-old man allegedly fled a random breath test on foot in Redhead on Friday September 6.

The teenager was arrested. Police allege he was in possession of 20 grams of cannabis, a small bag containing a white powder, a set of scales, a knuckle duster, a flick knife and $2,300 in cash.

He was taken to Belmont Police Station, where he was charged with possess prohibited drug, possess or use a prohibited weapon without permit, custody of knife in public place and knowingly deal with proceeds of crime intent to conceal.

In Newcastle, a 36-year-old man driving a motorcycle had his licence suspended after he was allegedly caught going 184km/h in a 90km/h zone on Saturday September 7.

Throughout the state, police charged 211 drivers for drunk driving offences and 470 drivers returned a positive result on the random drug tests.

The operation detected 6653 traffic offences in total.

"Police will continue their focus on removing impaired drivers from our roadways moving forward, both generally and during further planned operations of this type," NSW Police said.

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