Cops issue stern warning as double demerits kick in, motorists face heavy traffic as they escape for Easter

WA commuters shook off concerns over fuel shortages to make the most of their Easter long weekend en masse, as authorities repeated their stern message for those looking to break the rules.

Travellers flooded out of Perth on Thursday night, keen to get a head start on their long weekend.

Bumper to bumper traffic could be seen crawling in both directions along the Kwinana Freeway until after 6.30pm.

The early weekend got off to a bad start for some on Thursday afternoon.

A serious crash closed Albany Highway eastbound at Admiral Road around 5pm causing chaos for commuters trying to get an early start.

Earlier at 2.59pm, a crash on the freeway southbound at Manning Road in Como caused traffic mayhem for city-dwellers heading down south for the Easter long weekend.

The right lane was blocked off, causing traffic to come to a crawl.

Another crash in West Perth caused congestion for motorists travelling east on the Graham Farmer Freeway.

Reported at 4.02pm, the crash forced the right lane to be shut off.

With the long weekend also comes with double demerits.

The harsher penalty period kicked off on Thursday and will run until the end of Monday, putting the penalty for speeding up to a maximum of 14 demerit points, while the penalty for using your phone behind the wheel jumps to eight points.

First offenders caught drink driving with a blood alcohol concentration of less than 0.08, will be hit with to 10 demerit points, but anyone caught at 0.08 or above, or for not the first time, will need to be dealt with in court.

Road Safety Minister Reece Whitby said police would have a heavy presence for all those travelling this weekend.

‘Last Easter we had five Western Australians die on our roads, the Easter before that the figure was six, we want this to be a zero Easter road toll,” he said.

“We’re going all out to achieve that, every available police officer will be on the road, there will be that concentration in the so-called arc of influence around Perth into the regions where people are going to be on the roads.”

Police will be boosted by the rollout of a new fleet of ‘authority pack’ cars, BMV X5’s specifically designed law enforcement.

Four of the vehicles worth $130,000 each will be rolled out this weekend, with improved driving performance compared to previous fleets.

Road Policing commander Mike Peters had a clear message for those hitting the roads.

“This weekend, can I ask the community to make good choices, to not be selfish, to think about other road users, to be patient and focused on the task,” he said.

“Having a motor driver’s licence is not a gift, it’s actually something that you have to work for and work hard to get, and it can be taken away quite quickly during a double demerit point period.

“The double demerit point period, everything is doubled, and we see people regularly during these periods lose their licences quickly as a result of speeding and those type of things.”

Commander Peters said even low-level speeding could be the difference between life and death.

“The difference between zero and five kilometres over can be the difference between people getting out of the car and exchanging details to people not getting out of the car and being cut out of a car,” he said.

“Or even worse, being taken to hospital or a morgue because they didn’t survive the crash, it’s as simple as that.”