Mackay district fatal crashes allegedly linked to drugs, alcohol

Crash investigators have revealed the alleged drink and drug readings linked to some of the region’s worst crashes of 2022, and the shockingly reckless behaviour of some drivers.

Janessa Ekert

@JanessaEkert

3 min read

January 13, 2023 - 5:00AM

Mackay Forensic Crash Unit Officer in Charge Sergeant Michael Hollett is fed up with fatalities across the Mackay region.

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Mackay crash investigators have noticed a deadly trend among motorists involved in fatalities with some drivers allegedly drinking reckless amounts before getting behind the wheel.

In 2022 in the Mackay district there were 22 deaths from 20 fatal crashes, with about half allegedly involving alcohol and drugs.

It can be revealed police are alleging three of the crashes involved blood alcohol readings more than four times the legal limit at 0.362, 0.276 and 0.210 per cent.

“We don’t know why people drink to that level and then try and drive,” Senior Sergeant Michael Hollett said, as frustrated police figure how to push the message.

“It’s not like this is new, drink-driving and the effects that it can have, it’s been advertised for years and years … people still do it.”

Mackay Forensic Crash Unit Officer in Charge Sergeant Michael Hollett. Picture: Lillian Watkins.

In his role the Mackay district Forensic Crash Unit officer in charge has confronted drink-drivers responsible for a fatal crash.

“Their reactions vary,” he said.

“Some show genuine remorse, others don’t.”

He said some drivers would only focus on the impact a fatal crash had on their life.

“It’s hard to say but I don’t care the impact it has on their lives if they’ve destroyed someone’s life or significantly altered someone else’s life,” he said.

“My concern doesn’t lie with the people who drank to that level and caused a (fatal) incident.

“There’s no excuse and I’ve got absolutely no sympathy for them.”

Sometimes drink and drug drivers lose their own lives.

Police officer looking at a positive drug wipe's from a driver. The test returned a positive reading for marijuana (two red lines at the top).

Senior Sergeant Hollett said one incident from 2022 that stood out was a driver who got behind the wheel with a significant reading and tried to drive through a flooded creek.

“Another life is needlessly lost, and you just think well what was the point,” he said.

While Senior Sergeant Hollett said the number of drink and drug-related traffic fatalities was “no more than previous years”, the readings were very concerning.

“How people can function and even get in the car and even co-ordinate themselves to turn it on and drive … I don’t know how they do it at that level.”

Senior Sergeant Hollett said the ages of those involved in fatal crashes last year varied.

Mackay police at the scene of a fatal crash within the district. Picture: Zizi Averill

“It’s not just older people that are drink-driving, it’s younger people as well,” Senior Sergeant Hollett said.

“All those people aren’t listening, or getting the message.”

When asked what needed to be done Senior Sergeant Hollett said police were “happy to consider all options”.

“If a different approach … is going to get the message across, excellent,” he said.

“But we’ve got to try and think of an approach that gets to a very wide age range.”

Senior Sergeant Hollett said he could not “stress enough” it all stemmed back to driver’s decisions.

“If people choose to drink (to excess) and get in a car, they’ve got to think this could affect someone else, and... quite often it does, that’s what’s frustrating for us,” he said.

“You get innocent people affected because of other people’s decision making... and that’s the problem.”