ABC shadows the banal, brutal life of traffic police in South West WA

The ABC is shadowing the South West traffic police for the day in what has been the state's worst year-to-date road toll for more than a decade.

Transcript

00:00They're the eyes and ears of road safety in the South West and today we're going along

00:07for the ride.

00:08I'm wearing a camera that's recording at the moment and something a little bit different

00:13from today.

00:14We've actually got two people with the ABC with us as well.

00:17This is Acting Sergeant Matt Bayliss and Senior Constable Keith Armstrong from South

00:22West Traffic.

00:23They've seen just about everything behind the wheel.

00:26I've caught more drug dealers, booglers and armed robbers in traffic than what I ever

00:31did in general duties.

00:32She saw me the last second and pulled over and I said, is there any reason you didn't

00:37see me in the middle of the road?

00:38She said, yeah, I was texting my mum.

00:41They're in Bunbury checking speed and conducting random breath tests.

00:46As you've come through the intersection, you're doing 95.

00:48Right.

00:49Is there any reason for the speed at all today, sir?

00:52Education, just as important as enforcement.

00:55I've never lectured anyone because it gets people offside.

00:59It really does.

01:00It just did.

01:01Yeah, you don't want to treat people like idiots because they're not.

01:04We're all human.

01:05We all make mistakes.

01:08Next up, what police call playtime.

01:10Over here.

01:11That's the view.

01:12It's obviously picking up the registrations as we go past.

01:17It's obviously registration of the car as it's gone past.

01:21Yeah.

01:22It's just brought up a couple of alerts for us.

01:23So we had to stop you and have a chat anyway.

01:25Yeah.

01:26No.

01:27The speed limit on Forest Highway is only 110.

01:29We've got your speed locked on the radar at 122 as you're passing the cars.

01:33We haven't been in the car for that long, and police have already pulled over multiple

01:38people for a range of offences, including speeding and unregistered vehicles.

01:43Now, today's been a relatively quiet day, but with the long weekend and school holidays

01:47just around the corner, police are expecting an influx of visitors to the southwest, and

01:52with it, a potential increase in incidents.

01:55We've got those visitors to be met with an increased police presence on southwest roads.