Police have decried the loss of three lives on the state's roads over the long weekend.

Officers took aim at drivers' recklessness and "bad decisions" after Northern Region police alone issued more than 3000 infringements and conducted close to 250 positive drug tests over the four-day operation.

There were 56 major crashes resulting in three deaths in the Northern Region since the long weekend policing operation began on Friday, October 3.

The area encompasses the Hunter region, Coffs and Central coasts, and the Tweed and Richmond areas.

While Hunter drivers were notably absent from the tallies of most serious offences, released by NSW Police on Tuesday afternoon, the Northern Region was over-represented in the number of drink- and drug-driving offences.

Officers performed just over

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