The Acting Sergeant has won the Dr John Birrell Award for outstanding services to road safety.

The award is presented each year by Rotary Club of Warrnambool East, with the club donating $2500 as the prize.

This amount is then donated by the winner to a road safety community group.

Sergeant McLean has chosen the Mortlake SES as his group to donate the money to.

A long time on the beat has built a strong drive to do the job well for Sergeant McLean.

"I do have a passion for road safety, I worked in Highway Patrol for 15 years in Gippsland before coming here so I have gone to all types of nasty accidents," Sergeant McLean said.

"I have been in Mortlake three years and it has got busier on the roads.

"Drivers are pretty good but there are still those that will push the envelope, with speeding and drink and drug driving, no matter how hard we work to get the message out there.

"The drug testing has certainly been a good tool for us, it is a pretty strong deterrent."

Sergeant McLean was nominated for the award by his workmate Sergeant Matthew Laxton, who highlighted his colleague's dedication to road safety and the reduction of road trauma, as well as his ability to engage multiple stake holders.

He said Sergeant McLean was held in high regard by his peers due to his integrity and work ethic.