A death on a NSW road soon after double demerit points kicked in has police fearing a repeat of last year's Queen's Birthday long weekend when four people lost their lives.
A man died in western NSW when a truck smashed into his car on Henry Parkes Way, west of Orange, about an hour-and-a-half after the Operation Stay Alert long weekend road safety blitz began at midnight.
Police are exasperated by a spike in this year's road toll - about 30 higher than 2015 - with many of the deaths considered avoidable and the majority speed-related.
"We still have a minority of people who no matter what we do will do the wrong thing on our road," Assistant Police Commissioner John Hartley told reporters in Sydney on Friday.
"It is about people making mistakes on the road, doing the wrong thing, doing something illegal or driving whilst tired." More than 1300 officers will be patrolling the roads in NSW this weekend, targeting drink and drug driving, speed, fatigue and distraction.
Police are confident harsher penalties for drivers will go some way to limiting accidents, highlighting a 30 per cent reduction in fatalities compared to the period before double demerit points were introduced.
The long weekend also has the Red Cross nervous about its blood stocks used to treat victims of trauma as donors head out of town.
"Demand for blood in hospitals only increases on the long weekend," Red Cross spokesman Malcolm Zahra said.
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