Nearly 8000 road users fined during school holiday road biltz

Nearly 8000 road users have been slugged with infringements, fines and demerit points during a two week blitz of Queensland’s roads, including one man caught driving at 156km/h in a 100km zone with a five-year-old boy in the back seat.

A man allegedly travelling nearly 60km/h above the 100km/h speed limit on a rural highway with a five-year-old child in the back seat was one of nearly 8000 road users detected violating road rules during a two-week police operation targeting road safety during the school holidays.

Operation Spring Break netted more than 7900 drivers doing the wrong thing across Queensland, most commonly for speeding, not wearing a seatbelt, and drink and drug driving.

“Officers conducted over 39,000 roadside breath tests, resulting in 521 positive results returned and conducted more than one thousand Roadside Drug Tests resulting in 344 positive results returned,” Road Policing and Regional Support Command Acting Chief Superintendent Chris Stream said.

“Any police officer will tell you, we never forget the lives behind those numbers – their tragedy becomes our trauma, our motivator is to curb this needless heartache and we no make apologies for doing so.”

A 26-year-old Douglas man was fined more than $2,000 and lost his licence for 6 months, after allegedly exceeding the speed limit by more than 50km/h while riding a class of motorbike he was not licensed to. Photo: QPS.

A/Chief Supt. Stream said it was concerning that 100 motorists were fined for using a mobile phone while behind the wheel, while another 93 were caught not wearing seatbelts.

“Of particular frustration to police is the message still not getting through when it comes mobile phones and seatbelts,” he said.

The two-week blitz of the state’s roads resulted in $208,054 in fines and 772 demerit points.

Police released body-cam footage of one man who officers intercepted after they observed his van driving erratically and swerving into oncoming traffic on Queens Road at Kingston.

The 57-year-old Kingston man behind the wheel’s roadside breath test returned a reading of 0.286, more than 4 times the legal limit, and he was charged with drink driving and will appear before the Beenleigh Magistrates Court on October 5.

A man was pulled over at Kingston after allegedly driving erratically. A roadside breath test recorded a reading more than four times the legal limit. Photo: QPS.

Another man was allegedly caught speeding in his Holden Commodore, clocked at 156km/h in a 100 zone on the Burnett Highway near Moffatdale.

Police said a five-year-old boy was in the back seat at the time of the intercept.

The 29-year-old Toogoom man behind the wheel was issued a traffic infringement notice of $1653 and eight points, including an automatic six-month licence suspension.

A/Chief Supt. Stream urged motorists taking advantage of the long weekend to hit the road to put safety first.

A man was issued a six-month driving suspension after he was allegedly pinged doing 156km/h in a 100km/h zone with a five-year-old child in the back seat. Photo: QPS.

“Unfortunately, 13 lives were lost on our roads during the operation, with the 2022 lives lost amount currently at 225, an increase of 21 compared to last year,” he said.

“As we come into the long weekend, I’m calling on all motorists, passengers, pedestrians, cyclists and riders to play their part to keep each other safe.

“We cannot be on every corner, and poor decisions can very easily be prevented by checking in with yourself and others.”

Queensland’s 2022 road toll was 225 as of Thursday, 21 more than the same time last year.

During the two-week operation beginning September 17, Operation Spring Break saw more than 7,900 traffic offences detected across the state, with speeding, not wearing a seatbelt and drink and drug driving featuring prominently. https://t.co/IaHZSKEvbtpic.twitter.com/tbrdLNmlV6

— Queensland Police (@QldPolice) September 30, 2022