WA Police turn seized Maserati sports car into road safety vehicle
The seized Maserati has been repurposed to deliver a road safety message. (ABC News: Lily Kristanto)
A Maserati sports car has become an unlikely addition to the WA Police vehicle fleet, in the hope of saving lives on Perth roads.
The 2017 Maserati Quattroporte luxury sedan, worth an estimated $100,000, was seized in January this year from a repeat traffic offender who had failed to give way at an intersection.
The bronze-coloured car is now white and covered in police signage, and also bears the slogan "This is what happens when we put our foot down".
The Maserati was confiscated by police last month and now bears a new look. (ABC News: Lily Kristanto)
WA Police Commander Mike Bell told ABC Radio Perth while the Maserati was not an operational police vehicle, officers would be using it at graduations and community events to "really push the road safety message".
"I just thought it was an opportunity to really highlight to people that losing your vehicle is a thing," he said.
Permanent confiscation
Commander Bell said officers saw the Maserati fail to give way at an intersection in Fremantle last September.
Police pulled the 42-year-old male driver over and found he did not have an active interlock device – a court-imposed condition for serious or repeated drink-driving offences.
The previously bronze-coloured Maserati is now white and covered in police signage. (ABC News: Nicolas Perpitch)
The device requires drivers to blow into it to make the car start.
Police applied to have his car confiscated because the driver was a repeat offender, and a magistrate ordered the permanent confiscation of the vehicle.
'Concerning' behaviour on roads
WA Police seized 8,883 vehicles last year, and the annual figure is on the rise.
So far this year, police have seized 793 vehicles per month, compared to an average of 740 a month last year.
"It's concerning because people are either not abiding by the conditions of their licences, cancelled or suspended, or they're driving 45 kilometres or 90 kilometres over the limit," Commander Bell said.
Police hope the car will pose as a warning to other drivers. (ABC News: Lily Kristanto)
WA has recorded 50 road fatalities this year, up slightly from 47 this time last year.
The number of traffic infringements and vehicle impounds has also risen.
Commander Bell said while police were doing everything they could, motorists needed to do the right thing.
'We need the drivers out there to realise that crashes do happen and they can have fatal consequences," he said.
"That ripple effect through the community, through the family, it's just devastating … but it's just hard to get that message through."
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