The operation is aimed at bringing to the attention of the community the dangers of irresponsible behaviour on the roads that can lead to serious injury and death.

Between now and January 2, 2017, police will be targeting drink and drug driving, fatigue, seatbelts, and speeding during the Christmas and New Year holiday periods, and double demerits will apply across this period for all drivers on the road.

So far police have been focused in on drink and drug driving, and Roadside Breath Testing and Roadside Drug Testing were both in place on Market Street in the week leading up to Christmas.

Mudgee’s Police Chief Inspector Jeff Boon believes that it is crucial people are aware of the dangers of driving around Christmas time.

“There’s a lot of extra traffic on the road and we want to raise because of Christmas, we just want to make sure that people drive safely,” he said.

“We don’t want Christmas marred by tragedies, if you have an incident around this time of year it ruins Christmas forever."

The Roadside Drug Testing that has been added to the Safe Arrival campaign is crucial to the safety of drivers, and Chief Inspector Boon said that it was just a small amount of time and inconvenience for the safety.

“It takes just a single minute out of your day, and what we do know is that people with drugs in their systems are drastically over-represented in road crashes, so we want to lower that.”

"Drugs and driving don’t mix, neither does fatigue and driving; speeding will kill you and of course we know that alcohol is bad.”

“We’ve already had one positive tested for alcohol out at Ulan Road and it is flabbergasting that this has already happened. The thing with alcohol is that we don’t get a time of the day where someone isn’t drink driving, which in this day and age is alarming.”

“Drugs stay in your system for a long time too, so if you’ve used drugs any considerable period before you drive you could be over.”

“The bottom line is, if you want to use illegal drugs, take your drive licence back to Service NSW and hand it in.”

The campaign will also include Police services taking to the water for testing on the water for those on boats over the Christmas period.