Speeding, drink driving, no seatbelt: Qld’s deadly driver behaviour
Shocking driver behaviour is contributing to a horror year on Queensland roads, with the annual road toll on track to be the highest in over a decade.
Police & Courts
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Queensland is on track to record one of its deadliest road tolls in more than a decade with police saying people have become more selfish on the roads since Covid.
So far this year 188 people have lost their lives on Queensland roads which is 6.8 per cent more than the year before.
QPS Road Policing Group, Acting Superintendent Peter Flanders said fatalities had risen in Queensland and the state was on track to hit 300 deaths.
The last time Queensland hit and exceeded 300 lives lost was in 2009 with 331. The worst year on Queensland roads was in 1973 with 638 lives lost.
Statistics show that the Darling Downs District had the most deaths this year with 30 followed by 19 in the North Brisbane District and 18 in the Far North.
Act Supt Flanders said people had become more selfish on the roads since Covid.
“It’s a community health problem where we all need to look after our own health, and frankly Queenslanders are not doing that at the moment,” he said.
“Some people talk about a hangover from Covid where we all became a little bit more selfish,” he said.
“That’s certainly evident on the road, there’s no doubt about that.
“But at the end of the day, its about looking after one another and if we do that we will drive down the road toll.”
Footage released by police showed a number of examples of people becoming more selfish on the roads - speeding, drink driving, failure to wear a seat belt, using a mobile phone.
In one interaction a motorcyclist had performed a wheelie more than 40km/h over the speed limit, while another woman was caught high range drinking in her car with multiple bottles being pulled out.
Other instances include people not allowing others to merge or being impatient.
About 27 per cent of all Queensland road fatalities this year have been motorcyclists or pillion passengers, with 51 riders lives lost.
“A lot of people just blame bike riders for riding like idiots and lets face it some of them do,” he said.
“However across the community its incumbent among all of us to look to all vulnerable road users as part of a dynamic road safety environment and protect them.”
About 8000 Queenslanders are seriously injured a year where they are impacted for their rest of their lives.
Queensland Ambulance Service, Director of Clinical Operations Stephen Johns said it’s devastating for everyone.
“It takes a physical toll on the patients we respond to, but there’s also a psychological toll, not only for the patient but for paramedics, emergency service workers and those bystanders that are rendering assistance as well,” he said.
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