CHANGING LANES IN THE FIRST MONTH OF 2020, 17 PEOPLE WERE SERIOUSLY INJURED ON ROADS IN THE MITCHELL POLICE SERVICE AREA (PSA). As members of Seymour Highway Patrol Unit, one of the two highway patrol teams in the PSA, Leading Senior Constable Libby Garbutt and First Constable Monica Lock take this statistic seriously.
“You read the statistics about the number of offences committed on the roads, but I still found it confronting just how many people engage in reckless behaviour every single day,” Const Lock said.
Having worked across different highway patrol units for several years, Ldg Sen Const Garbutt said she’s seen nearly every road offence imaginable.
Changes in society have altered people’s behaviour on the roads and Ldg Sen Const Garbutt said technology advancements had led to one of the biggest challenges.
“Every day I continue to pull people over who have consciously chosen to speed, not wear their seatbelt or drive under the influence of drugs and alcohol,” Ldg Sen Const Garbutt said.
“Mobile phone use is probably the biggest change I’ve seen in my time,” she said.
“It’s not just the incidents that result in horrific crashes that I consider terrifying; any action that’s reckless and has the potential to cause a serious accident is terrifying.”
However, it’s not just the job and driver behaviour that have changed over the years, according to Ldg Sen Const Garbutt.
“When I first joined a highway patrol unit, I was one of very few women in road policing in any capacity, and that was less than 10 years ago,” she said. “Now we have women coming up the ranks at all levels of road policing.”
Changing lanes Const Locke has been at Seymour Highway Patrol for just a few months but has been shocked by the range of offences she's already witnessed.
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POLICE LIFE | AUTUMN 2020
“The number of people using their phones while driving is a huge issue that was nowhere near as bad 10 years ago.”
Being able to work in a unit and help mentor other females taking the road policing path is something Ldg Sen Const Garbutt really values. “I was the only female when I first joined highway patrol, so to be here when Monica started in our unit and to help mentor her, it's fitting,” she said.
“The fact we are able to have two women out in a highway patrol car is great. Women use our roads every day, so why shouldn’t we have women out policing them every day?” When Const Lock joined Victoria Police three years ago, her desire was always to work in road policing. “So many people use our roads every day, often without a second thought, yet the roads are also where a lot of the biggest tragedies occur every day,” Const Lock said.
