Hawkesbury command was the only one in the North West Metropolitan region to record an increase in fatal and serious injury motor vehicle collisions over January in a result local police have described as "disappointing".
Data from the Traffic and Highway Patrol Command showed the Hawkesbury recorded a total of 13 fatal/injury crashes for January 2019, a startling increase of nine on last year's figures.
Inspector Peter Jenkins of Hawkesbury Police Area Command (PAC) said officers would continue to push the message about road safety in light of the statistics.
"We are the only place in our region to see an increase in the fatal/injury collision grouping," he told the Gazette.
"It's disappointing to have an increase, but especially when you're the only one.
We are the only place in our region to see an increase in the fatal/injury collision grouping ... It's disappointing to have an increase, but especially when you're the only one.
- Inspector Peter Jenkins
"It could be down to a bit of complacency from people, and we will keep at trying to push the road safety message by doing random breath testing and other traffic related operations.
"Education is everything. We want to get the message out but we need the community to help us."
The figures include one fatality in the region, which occurred on January 8.
General duties and Highway Patrol police conducted more than 9,400 random breath tests throughout January in the Hawkesbury area, laying a total of 14 drink driving charges.
"That's 14 people that potentially could have added to our fatal and serious injury list," Inspector Jenkins said.
On a more positive note, no fatalities were recorded on the region's roads during several high-profile campaigns conducted by police during the holiday period.
Operation Safe Arrival operated between December 21, 2018 and January 1 of this year, with Hawkesbury recording no fatalities and officers conducting more than 2,000 breath tests in the area.
Operation Safe Return ran at the end of the school holidays from January 25 to 28, with more than 560 random breath tests conducted in the local area and no fatalities recorded.
Breath tests recorded in the entire North West Metropolitan region during the two operations were just over 113,000 and 38,000 respectively.
