The number of people caught not wearing seatbelts increased three fold in a recent police motorbike blitz in the Hunter.
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All infringements went up during the second Operation Trident, which took place from September 3 to 7 throughout Maitland, Cessnock and Port Stephens, from the previous blitz held last month.
Extra resources were brought in for both operations, boosting the patrol’s motorbike strength from one to five.
The number of people caught by motorcycle police without seatbelts increased from three to nine, speeding tickets jumped from 73 to 80 and mobile phone offences rose from 16 to 19.
Hunter Highway Patrol cluster supervisor Senior Sergeant Tony Grace said he didn’t think the results would be so high considering rain impeded two days of the operation.
“I would have expected to see the numbers decline,” he said.
Senior Sergeant Grace said despite what some people think, police actually wanted to see the number of infringements issued decrease.
“We don’t gauge success by the number of tickets we give out,” he said.
“We would prefer to see the numbers dropping.”
Maitland motorists can expect to see ongoing motorbike resources in the area, with a second police motorbike to be stationed in Maitland from October 1 through to next year.