Already this week a 33-year-old Mortlake disqualified driver was intercepted by Camperdown police in his unregistered Subaru Outback.

The vehicle was impounded for 30 days at a cost of $1295 in towing and storage fees.

The driver will be summoned to appear at the Warrnambool Magistrates Court at a later date on a raft of driving-related charges.

All available police members will saturate the south-west major and arterial roads this weekend.

Operation Compass will run two phases, starting midnight Thursday until midnight Tuesday and then from midnight Thursday, November 4, until midnight Sunday, November 7.

In addition Victoria will see COVID travel restrictions between metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria are lifting and police are anticipating an influx of travellers from Melbourne to tourism hotspots.

They're warning drivers increased traffic volumes combined with long hours behind the wheel and a deterioration in driving skills due to lockdown could be a recipe for disaster.

Motorists are urged to slow down and take extra care with roads to be at their busiest in months.

Eleven lives were lost on Victorian roads last year when lockdown lifted and police say they are determined to avoid a repeat.

There have already been 190 lives lost on Victorian roads in 2021, which is trending well above the same time last year (178).

South-west police road safety adviser Acting Senior Sergeant Dean Greenwood raised concerns about fatigue and the prevalence of single vehicle accidents.

He said the death of a 24-year-old woman in a single-vehicle collision at Ellerslie late last week set off alarm bells for police with Melbourne drivers coming out of lockdown.

In the past couple of weeks, a six-year-old boy passenger was seriously injured in a collision with a tree at Mortlake and a middle aged man was flown to a Melbourne hospital after a Terang crash.

That followed a double fatality at Winslow on the afternoon of August 27 and the death of a 51-year-old Koroit woman at Cooriemungle on August 20.

There have been 13 people die on south-west roads this year, compared to 10 for the same time last year.

There were 12 people killed on south-west roads last year, 16 during 2019 and 11 in 2018.

"It is concerning that we have all spent a lot of time in COVID lockdown and now things are opening up," Acting Senior Sergeant Greenwood said.

"There are very soon going to be a lot of Melbourne drivers on the road during the holiday period and people will have forgotten how to drive, forgotten their good driving habits.

Following the recent easing of restrictions in regional Victoria there were at least four fatal collisions in five days and several injury collisions where drink driving was suspected.

Police are urging Victorians enjoying end of lockdown celebrations to think twice before drinking and getting behind the wheel.

Operation Compass will see police targeting speed, distraction, fatigue and impaired driving in high-risk areas.

They will be highly visible on major arterials including the Princes Freeway, Calder Freeway, Hume Highway and Western Highway.

Assistant Commissioner Road Policing, Glenn Weir said Victorians had done a fantastic job in the fight against COVID-19, but it was no good surviving the pandemic if people ended up dead or seriously injured in a car crash.

"The coming fortnight is a perfect storm on our roads," he said.

"Many of us haven't driven long distances for months. Our skills have deteriorated and there's going to be an enormous amount of traffic as people escape the city and head to regional Victoria.

"Victoria Police will be going all out to keep people safe. You will see highway patrol cars, you will see drug and alcohol buses, you will see our motorbikes and you will see our frontline patrol units.

"Please, help us make this time memorable for all the right reasons. Road trauma is preventable, and we don't want to see anybody else become an unnecessary statistic."

IN OTHER NEWS:

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: