Watch: Drivers’ crazy roadside risk taking caught on camera

There are 1500 cameras monitoring South East Queensland’s busiest roads, and these are some of the most disturbing incidents they’ve detected. WATCH NOW

Queenslanders have been found making phone calls, changing nappies, picking flowers, having lunch and collecting friends on the side of busy motorways, with a transport body issuing a warning to drivers to stop the life endangering acts.

Transurban officers respond to an average 1000 road incidents every month while managing six of Brisbane’s busiest thoroughfares.

Officers are required to respond to all stoppages and while some drivers need legitimate medical or roadside assistance, others have been found pulled over on the side of busy motorways doing bizarre acts.

Transurban Queensland general manager of operations Melanie Gordon said more people were dangerously pulling over on the side of motorways during the school holidays and drivers needed to be reminded that emergency bays were for emergencies only.

A parked vehicle protrudes on to a lane of a busy motorway. Picture: Transurban

“It’s crazy how often we see people pull over to do random things on the side of the road. They just don’t realise how dangerous that is,” Ms Gordon said.

“Over the past week we’ve seen an increase in the number of motorists pulling over in emergency stopping bays for non-emergencies.

“We think this may be due to school holiday road trippers checking that their caravans, trailers and luggage are still secured for the journey ahead.

“Our roads have such a high proportion of heavy vehicles. If you’re pulled over on the shoulder, it’s easy for you to be involved in an incident.

“Our message to motorists is emergency stopping bays are for emergencies only – if you need to check your load, please exit the motorway and find somewhere safe to pull over.”

A motorist alights from their dangerously parked vehicle with their dog. Picture: Transurban

Transurban CCTV footage shows one driver in a Ford Ranger pulled over on the side of the road to throw a dirty nappy out of his car on the Logan Motorway.

Separate footage depicts a man stopping on the Logan Motorway with his car still partially parked on the left lane as other motorist whiz past.

Another man is seen stopping an orange station wagon on the Clem7 off ramp to fix a mattress loosely tied to the top of his car.

Two men can also be seen on the side of the Gateway Motorway highway fixing a surfboard.

Another woman exits a yellow car on the side of Logan Motorway to walk her dog.

Meanwhile, another man pulls over on Gateway Motorway and exits his car to collect wildflowers from the other side of the guardrail.

The Transurban control room monitors Queensland roads 24/7.

Transurban incident response personnel watch the roads 24/7 with 1500 cameras feeding live footage to an ultimate ‘big brother’ screen at a Brisbane headquarters.

Cameras use a special automatic vehicle incident detection (AVID) software to pick up out of character movements on the road such as debris or a pedestrian, sending an alert to roadside assistance teams.

The artificial intelligence camera can detect an item as small as a piece of paper, and will also pick up congestion.

“We’re watching all of the time,” Ms Gordon said.

“We use predictive analytics and machine learning technology to keep traffic moving.

A driver lifts a child on to their vehicle beside a busy motorway. Picture: Transurban

“The response could be, you need to close a lane because maybe there’s a pedestrian which means you put up the x’s, you might want to reduce the speed, you might make an announcement to say ‘please move to the right’.”

It takes an average of eight minutes for any of Transurban’s response teams to arrive at an incident, with responders donning motorcycles if they need to weave through heavy traffic.

In the control room, one team manages open roads, the Logan and Gateway Motorways, while another watches over the network model including Legacy Way, the Inner City Bypass and Clem7 tunnels.

A separate team is assigned to the complex Airportlink Tunnel, which has the most entry and exit points.

A person picks flowers beside a busy motorway. Picture Transurban

While the Logan and Gateway motorways are by far Transurban's busiest thoroughfares during peak hour, tunnel teams are kept busy at night with maintenance works, testing ventilation, fire suppression and deluge systems, lighting and fans.

“Because of the amount of safety critical systems, we have to test those things constantly,” Ms Gordon said.

The creation of Transurban’s Brisbane traffic control headquarters has been in the works for years, with separate road-monitoring teams converging into one secret central hub in July.

Transurban will also host this years’ Bridge to Brisbane event, with Brisbane City Council and the Queensland Police Service using the headquarters to monitor the race.