There's a new police operation hitting Victorian roads to keep pedestrians safe, but it alone won't solve the problem of rising deaths.
Victoria Police have launched an operation in response to high pedestrian deaths in April, but more needs to be done to curb rising pedestrian deaths, says one road safety expert.
Road Policing Acting Assistant Commissioner, Justin Goldsmith said while May traditionally has Victoria’s highest numbers of pedestrian deaths, the six pedestrian deaths recorded in April have police concerned. Police will be targeting at-risk areas informed by their intelligence.
“This is not about levelling blame at anyone, this is about saving lives and reducing the amount of trauma on our roads,” Goldsmith said “Pedestrians have little to no protection, so when they’re involved in a collision with a vehicle, the consequences can be catastrophic."
“We’ll be focusing on behaviours that puts pedestrians at risk of being involved in a collision – whether that’s failing to give way, distraction, speeding, impaired driving, riding on the footpath, or not using designated crossings.”
Pedestrian fatalities in Victoria 1989 to 2025
The Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE) has only released road fatality data up to March 2026, but if police figures are accurate, last month would be the first time since 2022 that six people have died in April.
However, Associate Professor Milad Haghani, a road safety expert from the University of Melbourne says rising pedestrian deaths can’t be solved by police alone - broader policy changes are needed.
"Operation Aware is clearly a good-faith and evidence-informed response by Victoria Police. Targeting high-risk locations and periods, especially during winter months when pedestrian visibility declines, can help reduce trauma to some extent, likely marginally,” Doctor Haghani said.
“But the broader rise in pedestrian deaths is unlikely to be solved through enforcement operations in select locations alone. The trend appears increasingly systemic and linked to how our overall road environment has evolved over time.
“Police operations can help to some extent but can only go so far. If Victoria wants to tackle the broader trajectory of pedestrian trauma, the response needs to be more multi-channel and systemic. It must combine enforcement with policy and behavioural interventions."
Hagani and his colleagues have been concerned about pedestrian fatality rates in Australia for some time, and expect to publish new research soon.
“Our recent analysis and modelling of pedestrian trauma data at granular level over past decades (with formal results to be published soon) suggests there are deeper systemic patterns behind the trend, the solution to many of which are more policy-related than purely operational or policing matters.”
This isn’t the first time police have run this operation, with the same operation during June last year resulting in 266 traffic infringements being issued for offenses related to speeding, mobile phone use, and disobeying traffic signs.
Police will be engaging with pedestrians to encourage use of designated footpaths and crossings, stating that 55 per cent of pedestrian deaths occur in sections of road with no traffic lights or pedestrian crossings.
Police have said they will be active in priority high-risk metro areas where there are high numbers of pedestrians intersecting with other road users, including Melbourne CBD, Glen Eira, Stonnington, Monash, Whitehorse, Casey, Hume, Wyndham and Geelong.
Areas with 40-60km/h speed zones are where pedestrian trauma most commonly occurs according to police, with weekdays between morning and evening peak commutes identified as the highest-risk times.
Police will be on the lookout for vehicles failing to give way, as well as other behaviours that put pedestrians at risk such as distraction, speeding, impaired driving and riding on the footpath.
Max is the News Publishing Coordinator for Drive. He enjoys creating engaging digital content, including videos, podcasts, interactive maps, and graphs. Prior to Drive, he studied at Monash University and gained experience working for various publications. He grew up playing Burnout 3: Takedown on the PS2 and was disappointed when real life car races didn’t have the same physics.
