Roadwork speed traps and drones: Cops’ plan to target misbehaving motorists over festive season

Police have revealed just how they will be targeting misbehaving motorists in the face of one of the deadliest road tolls in years.

Police will use drones to monitor cars on Queensland beaches and will target people speeding through roadworks as the state moves towards the most deadly annual road toll in a decade.

Eleven people have died since police began Operation Charger, a road safety campaign aimed at keeping Queensland roads safe over the Christmas and New Year period.

Acting Chief Superintendent Chris Stream said police had conducted nearly 54,000 roadside breath tests, with 577 people caught drink driving and 421 driving while affected by drugs, since the operation began at midnight on December 9.

He said police had issued 108 fines to people not wearing a seatbelt, 93 for using a mobile phone and 722 speeding fines.

Among them were two drivers who were fined for speeding through a 60km/h roadworks zone on the Bruce Highway, near the Bribie Island overpass.

Mr Stream said police initially clocked a 64-year-old man driving at 108km/h on a hand held speed detection device and were shocked to see him overtaken by a 40-year-old man in a black utility travelling at 142km/h.

“It’s extremely disappointing to see that behaviour,” he said.

Mr Stream said the road toll was 289 as of midnight on December 21 and was on track to reach 300.

“That’s the highest in 10 years,” he said. “We have not seen a figure like that since 2012. It’s terrible.”

Police will be out in force on roads over the festive season.

He said police would be targeting people driving dangerously on beaches, including Teewah, Inskip Point, Moreton Island, Bribie Island and Fraser Island.

“We will be increasing patrols on the beaches targeting undesirable behaviour,” Mr Stream said.

“And that includes the use of drones across beaches.”

He said police were also warning people to be conscious of their safety as pedestrians in party precincts and people who received e-scooters for Christmas.

“We are expecting to see a lot of inexperienced people on these e-scooters and there are real risks involved when it comes to operating them,” he said.

He warned people to ensure they followed speed limits and wore a helmet.

Mr Stream also called on people to “watch out for your friends” when it came to intoxicated pedestrians in entertainment precincts.

Police are attributing the high road toll in part to an increase in cars on Queensland roads.

Mr Stream said there had been a 21 per cent increase in visitors to Queensland since before the pandemic. He said police were also hearing anecdotally from motorists that they had driven to Queensland because their flights had been delayed or cancelled.

Mr Stream urged drivers to think of the impact on their family if they were killed or terribly injured.

“The best gift to give is to arrive safely at the end of your journey,” he said.

“The impact on families is terrible, but so is the impact on emergency workers.

“To deliver a death message this time of year is not something anyone wants to do.”