Limestone Coast police have issued a warning to local drivers following a spate of serious driving offences in the region.

Driver behaviour has come to police attention, with Mount Gambier Police Inspector Karmen Conway identifying three motor vehicle collisions in the past three weeks where drivers were detected with an alcohol reading.

Seven people have been detected driving with alcohol in their systems and two of those seven were provisional drivers, the highest alcohol reading allegedly 0.126.

Four significant serious injury collisions have been recorded, one being alleged hoon driving that contained three passengers and the vehicle rolled.

Current investigations are continuing into a motorcyclist, where it will be alleged that extreme speed was part of the reasons for the collision in the Mount Gambier CBD area and four people have been detected driving disqualified along with a person driving with drugs in their system.

Last week police at Bordertown also detected a driver allegedly speeding at 196kph in a 110kph zone on the Dukes Highway, who allegedly recorded an alcohol reading and drugs detected in his system.

“To say that we are disappointed is an underestimate of what our opinions of these drivers are,” Inspector Conway said.

“In the last two weeks it has just been astounding the blatant disregard to road safety and the majority is from our own community members.

“Sadly, we had a young person die on our roads on (last) Monday, the impact of these deaths and serious injury are far-reaching to our community.

“The impact that it has on the family and friends that lose a loved one or the people that witness these collisions, the people that are first on scene that render first aid, that has lasting impact, lifelong impact.

“We know that two out of three lives lost on regional roads are our community members, straight up fact.

“It is unacceptable that people think they can drive on our roads, blatantly breach the law, and think that that is acceptable, and their lives mean more than anybody else that is on the roads.

“I do not want to have emergency services have a year start off where we are attending more people dying on our roads.

“It is up to the community to act, report any behaviour that is inappropriate, take responsibility for your own driving behaviours, and importantly, step up.

“If you know somebody is doing the wrong thing, take the initiative and prevent them and if you cannot individually do that you need to notify the police so that we can then investigate.”

Inspector Conway said these were just the highlighted incidences, with many minor collisions and offences being detected daily.

“The critical aspect is people cannot put their heads in the sand in regards to this,” she said.

“It is not acceptable that people are not taking responsibility.

“If it does not stop and people do not start taking check of what they are doing out on our roads, I am really sad to say we will see more people lose their lives on our roads.

“We strongly urge everybody to take responsibility, drive safely and make sure that you are doing the right thing.”

Inspector Conway said complacency was a definite factor and the majority of incidents, even minor, occurred within a few kilometres of home addresses because people switched off.

“They think they know the road, they will just cruise into the driveway and everything will be okay, they do not realise they need to remain alert, not be distracted, not answer the phone if they have got mobile phones ringing, not be texting, not be speeding,” she said.

“Nothing is that urgent that it should take their minds away from actually concentrating on what they are doing and that is driving safely to the conditions to their abilities and, importantly, abiding by the law.”

Inspector Conway said people needed to accept and understand that driving was a major responsibility and they would face serious consequences if they did not take responsibility.

“You cannot afford to take the road rules with a grain of salt, you need to understand there are elements that occur out on the roads while we are driving that we need to be able to be switched on,” she said.

Inspector Conway urged people to be responsible and emphasised the critical importance of finding an alternative method home if planning to drink along with looking out for others.

“If you have been out to the pub and you are all having a good time and you know your mate has got their car in the carpark and you see them picking up the keys and going to the car then do something about it,” she said.

“This complacency has got to stop, it is about mates actually looking out for each other.

“This is about individuals taking responsibilities for their actions.”