Sunshine State has now become the deadly state with road toll highest in years
NSW and Victoria have had significantly fewer road deaths in 2020, but Queensland road fatalities have increased dramatically.
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The Sunshine State is now the deadly state after recording the highest road toll in years, and a leading motoring group is calling for mobile phone detection cameras to be activated immediately.
After recording its lowest road toll in decades in 2019, Queensland has had 275 deaths on roads so far this year with just hours remaining before 2021.
It’s 56 more than 2019 (219) and the most since 280 lives were lost on Queensland’s roads in 2012.
Every other mainland state has recorded fewer deaths, so far, in 2020.
NSW’s road toll has dropped from 351 to 296* and Victoria, which had been in lockdown for months, has had 43 fewer deaths in 2020 compared with 2019.
The only other increases in road toll statistics were in the ACT, with one more death, and three in Tasmania.
RACQ spokeswoman Clare Hunter said it was “baffling”, and despite all the efforts of police and warnings to buckle up, slow down and rest when tired, the deaths just kept climbing.
She said fewer cars had been on the road in some states because of coronavirus-enforced lockdowns while Queensland has, all but for several weeks, been open to travel.
“It’s baffling and extremely disappointing that so many people have been killed on our roads,” Ms Hunter said.
“Anecdotally, we believe because so many people are driving for their holidays, and not jumping on a plane to travel, that we are seeing more cars on the road and more crashes.”
Roads Minister Mark Bailey said beside 275 deaths, there were more than 3500 hospital admissions because of vehicular crashes.
He said the death toll rise was largely in regional and rural areas, with Brisbane, Ipswich and the Darling Downs either recording fewer deaths or similar to last year.
“What we are seeing is different outcomes in different parts of the state,” he said.
“Mackay has had the worst results in four years, Wide Bay Burnett is up 63 per cent in fatalities this year to last year, and we’ve seen an increase in Townsville of six deaths there.”
He said mobile phone and seatbelt detection cameras would be rolled out across the state in 2021, and the government would toughen drink-driving penalties, with alcohol ignition interlock for mid-range breaches.
“In the next 12 months there is a toughening-up of road safety in Queensland,” he said.
“If you’re one of those people who don’t wear a seatbelt and … uses their mobile phone illegally while driving … you will be caught.”
Queensland trialled the mobile phone and seatbelt detection cameras earlier this year.
Fired-up Police Minister Mark Ryan displayed a series of photos taken by the cameras that depicted drivers either using their phones or not wearing a seatbelt.
“And what you see in these images is stupid behaviour,” an exasperated Mr Ryan told reporters as he pointed to each photo.
“Over here, not wearing a seatbelt, stupid. Using a mobile phone, stupid. Using a mobile phone, stupid.
“Bad, bad decisions that cost lives.”
The increased road deaths in regional areas comes as the RACQ again calls for improvements to major and arterial roads across the state.
Ms Hunter said the RACQ had a “long list” of road improvements it wanted to roll out, but in the meantime, a lot of the deaths came down to driver behaviour.
“We certainly have a long list of improvements we’d like to see, including the Bruce Highway and major regional roads across the state, and that would certainly play a role in lowering the road toll,” she said.
“What will lower the road told is drivers slowing down, making responsible decisions and respecting other road users and the law.”
NSW Acting Roads Minister Andrew Constance said it was positive to see a significant reduction in road trauma, which he attributed in part to a reduction in vehicles on the road because of the pandemic.
He said it was disturbing that the road fatalities were largely because of excessive speeds – more than half of the November deaths were attributed to speed.
“While we have seen fewer deaths on our roads over the past 12 months, we have also seen a significant reduction in traffic volumes because of the COVOID-19 pandemic,” he said.
“What is really distressing is during 2020 we saw an increase in fatalities involving speed.
“So far this year, 47 per cent of the deaths on our roads have involved excessive speed – that’s compared to 38 per cent for the same time period last year.
“In November alone, 28 people were killed on our roads – 15 of those deaths involved excessive speeding or driving too fast for the conditions.”
ROAD FATALITIES: 2019/2020 (*YEAR-TO-DATE)
NSW: 351 / 296 (30/12/20) -55
Vic 265 / 212 (29/12/20) -43
SA: 114 / 96 (29/12/20) -18
WA: 163 / 153 (23/12/20) – 10
NT: 35 / 32 (23/12/20) -3
ACT: 6 / 7 (30/12/20) +1
Tas: 32 / 29 (30/12/20) +3
Qld: 219 / 275 (30/12/20) +56
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