Twenty-six drivers stopped for random drug testing in southern NSW during a two-day road safety enforcement campaign returned a positive indication for the presence of an illicit drug.
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Operation Chrome was a two-day road safety enforcement campaign conducted in Southern, Western and Northern regions on Friday and Saturday, May 17-18.
The operation utilised police from all districts within the Southern region, working alongside officers from the Traffic and Highway Patrol Command.
Police targeted poor driving behaviours on rural roads - including speeding, drink and drug-driving, not wearing seatbelts, using a mobile phone behind the wheel and fatigue.
During the Southern Region phase of the operation police conducted 11,785 random breath tests and charged 42 people with drink driving.
Twenty-six people were banned from driving for 24 hours after random drug testing returned a positive indication for the presence of a prohibited drug.
Police will await laboratory testing results from a second sample before determining further legal action.
Two people were detected not using their seatbelts correctly.
Traffic and Highway Patrol Command Assistant Commissioner Michael Corboy said Operation Chrome only strengthened the police stance about road safety in rural areas.
"We will not hesitate to stop a vehicle if we think the driver's behaviour places everyone in the vehicle at risk of being in a crash," Assistant Commissioner Corboy said.
"Police will continue targeting those roads that lead to the major arterial routes across the state such as the Princes, Olympic, Federal and Hume highways.
"The focus on rural roads will not end because Operation Chrome has. We are making state-wide preparations to be on the road in numbers during the June long weekend and school holidays."
Commander of the Southern Region, Assistant Commissioner Peter Barrie said the majority of drivers within the Southern Region behaved responsibly on the road, a number of motorists chose to put their lives and that of others at risk by making poor decisions.
"Operation Chrome is about highlighting the factors that contribute to rural road trauma," he said.
"We made no secret that we would be out there and enforcing the law. Some people just don't get it and put other families lives at risk."
Read more: Crime/Court