Brisbane’s crash hot spots revealed

A MAJOR artery on Brisbane’s northside has emerged as the city’s most dangerous road, labelled a recipe for crashes by the RACQ.

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A 7KM stretch of Gympie Rd has emerged as the most dangerous section of road in Brisbane and is a recipe for crashes, according to the RACQ.

Three sites along a stretch from Kedron to Aspley on the city’s northside recorded the three highest crash totals since January, 2015, according to RACQ data.

More than 70,000 cars travel along the 7km stretch every day, and the worst sections for crashes were at Chermside (181), Kedron (134) and Aspley (133).

RACQ Head of Public Policy, Dr Rebecca Michael, said Gympie Rd was a “recipe for crashes” as it was very congested with high traffic volumes and lots of intersections.

RACQ insurance has recorded more than 30,000 crashes around the city since the start of 2015, helping the state’s peak motoring body to build a snapshot of danger roads and suburbs in the capital.

Brisbane City (851), Chermside (753) and Mount Gravatt (734) were the worst areas for crashes.

Mid-week afternoon traffic on Gympie Rd, Chermside

The 20 most accident-prone roads were spread across the city, with 12 on the north side, and mostly featured largely congested, high volume, multi-lane roads with many intersections and conflict points.

High numbers of rear-end crashes were recorded at congestion spots and intersections as well as lane-change side swipes and crashes caused by drivers failing to correctly give way.

Dr Michael said there were engineering and vehicle-safety solutions to help reduce crashes, but drivers also needed to play a part to keep themselves and other road users safe.

“As practically all of the top 20 worst links already have fully signalised intersections, the best treatment to reduce rear-end crashes is to apply anti-skid pavement on approaches to intersections to improve the grip of tyres,” she said.

“We also need to look for ways to reduce traffic on those roads as it will result in reduced congestion.

“To do this, we need all levels of government to commit to road and intersection upgrades that relieve congestion and reduce crashes and to provide alternative corridors.”

Ili Bone with children Evie, 8, and Jo Leonard, 9, on busy Ipswich Rd, Moorooka. Picture: Ric Frearson/AAP

Logan Rd at Eight Mile Plains was fourth on the list of accident sites, with 123 crashes since the start of 2015.

Dr Michael said the Miles Platting, Padstow and Logan Rd intersection along this stretch was one of the most congested in Queensland.

She urged the Department of Transport and Main Roads to deliver planned future stages of upgrades.

The list of crash sites has remained quite stable over the years, but Dr Michael said two of the top four accidents zones, Logan Rd at Eight Mile Plains and Gympie Rd at Kedron, had jumped up the list.

“These are both very busy and congested corridors and require upgrades and improvements to make them safer,” she said.

The RACQ’s advice for motorists was to take extra care when driving on highly congested roads.