Grand final revellers put on notice by cops: you’ll be breath tested

As Queensland’s road toll continues to soar, senior police have issued both a plea and a warning as motorists hit the road for the last weekend of the school holidays.

The horror head-on crash that wiped out four people this week will be relived by all who saw it, Queensland’s top traffic cop says, as police plead with drivers to take care over the long weekend.

Road Policing Assistant Commissioner Ben Marcus said investigators were still awaiting the results of toxicology tests on the driver of a hatchback that collided head-on with an SUV on the Ipswich Motorway at Redbank on Wednesday night.

Calvin Clack, a career criminal and long-time drug user, was driving at speed on the wrong side of the road when he hit an SUV being driven by Darling Downs woman Rani Holder. Her partner Kyle Stacey and her two-year-old daughter were passengers in the car.

Mr Clack, who is believed to have not been wearing a seatbelt, was thrown from his vehicle and died at the scene.

Both cars exploded into flames, with the bodies of Mr Stacey, Ms Holder and her daughter found inside.

Emergency workers on the scene of Wednesday night’s crash on the Ipswich Motorway. Picture: Channel 9

“It’s not just the emergency services officers who get traumatised - you think of the number of vehicles that drove past that, and they saw that, and the number of people that have to drive past that every day on their way to work or their way home, and they get to relive it.

“These things aren’t necessary. They are avoidable. They are entirely preventable.”

Mr Marcus said drivers needed to take extra care over the weekend, with police predicting a lot of traffic on the roads around a long weekend that includes an NRL grand final and a Sunshine Coast music festival.

“Our current lives lost in Queensland stands at 206, which is 13 more than the same time last year,” he said.

“We had that one horror crash earlier this week where we had four people killed in the one crash.

“We’ve had six lives lost in three crashes just in the last week.

“Two of those, incredibly, were not wearing seatbelts. That’s two people killed solely because they weren’t wearing seatbelts.”

A 49-year-old man allegedly blew .062 after running up the back of a car waiting at the lights at Logan Rd, Eight Mile Plains, in front of police.

Mr Marcus said police continued to see reckless behaviour on Queensland roads, with one driver caught travelling 198km/h over the Hornibrook Bridge.

In another case, a man who police allege was drunk, crashed into the back of a stationary vehicle at Eight Mile Plains in front of a marked police car.

The 49-year-old blew .062 after police rushed over to see if he’d been injured.

“Can I just tell you, if you’re going to do that and you’ve been drinking, don’t do that in front of a marked police vehicle, particularly when they have their dashcam on and the car you hit has their dashcam on,” Mr Marcus said.

He said police would be out on Monday morning following the grand final to make sure drivers weren’t on the road while over the limit.

“And we make no apologies for that,” he said.

“So if you are going to drink, you don’t drive. If you are going to drive, you don’t drink.”

Police Minister Mark Ryan said Wednesday’s crash was “heartbreaking”.

“Your heart just breaks for the families who have lost loved ones in that tragedy,” he said.

He said road safety was about “people taking responsibility for their actions”.

“Make good, responsible, sensible decisions so that everyone can enjoy the wonderful freedoms we’re enjoying at the moment,” he said.