Townsville police nab drivers speeding in morning blitz

Mind your speed, or deal with the consequences. That’s the message from Townsville police as they work to confront motorists who are failing to observe the school zone warnings.

Highway Patrol Townsville Officer in Charge Senior Sergeant Robert Nalder. Picutre: Evan Morgan

One of Townsville’s top police officers monitoring our city’s roads has issued a clear warning to anyone thinking of slacking off behind the wheel now that school has returned.

During a morning speed detection operation outside Mundingburra State School, police intercepted 10 drivers speeding across a 30 minute period, with one driver travelling 26km/h over the 40km/h limit during the school period.

Townsville Highway Patrol OIC Senior Sergeant Robert Nalder said that drivers had to be mindful of school zones and should be patient as students returned to school in droves.

“We’re out in force at as many school as we possibly can be this week, where we’ll be doing stationary LIDAR and checking the speeds of vehicles,” Sergeant Nalder said.

“Trying to remind everybody that school is back and we’ve got to slow down going through those school zones, and look after the kids safety.

“This is a reminder that these zones are there. We’ve spoken to a couple of people this morning and the first thing they say is ‘oh, we totally forgot’. That’s a common thing, but we need everybody to flick the switch and understand we’re back at school.

“All the limits are indicated on those massive signs, they’re brightly lit and you can’t miss them.”

Officers monitor the speed of motorists outisde Mundingburra State School. Photo: Queensland Police Service.

Sergeant Nalder said children could be ‘unpredictable’, especially if they break away from their supervising parents.
“We’ve got to be looking out for them, even when the road traffic signs are red, we need to still be cautious,” Sergeant Nalder said.

“We can do our best as parents and as family members taking the kids to school, but we also need to pick up the slack [behind the wheel].

“Townsville has seen a great success in reducing traffic crashes, we’re doing super well in the Townsville area. We need to keep that up and keep the pressure on.”

Sergeant Nalder said police units would be attending as many school zones as is possible in both the morning and afternoon school periods and urged travellers to ‘check their speed’.

“You don’t want to be on the receiving end of a ticket.”

The statement comes after the most recent and updated road toll statistics showed that 13 lives have already been lost on Queensland’s roads in 2023 and 299 lives lost in total across 2022.

The 299 lives lost last year represent the highest amount of people killed on Queensland’s roads in the last decade.

Originally published as Townsville police nab drivers speeding in morning blitz