Police record spike in speeding offences in past fortnight

Modern cars might have high-tech safety features, but they won’t help you at high speeds. That’s the message from our Road Policing boss as Toowoomba experiences a speeding spike.

Toowoomba police ran a traffic operation on Bridge Street, breath testing more than 1000 drivers.

Police have appealed to drivers to take their feet off the accelerator after a spike in speed detections in the past fortnight.

On Friday, Road Policing Unit officers handed a $1245 fine to a 27-year-old man after he was booked doing 155km/h on the Gore Highway at Southbrook, about 7.30pm.

A 20-year-old man was also clocked doing 148km/h on the Leichhardt Highway at Goondiwindi on April 3, while a 21-year-old man was booked doing 147km/h on the Toowoomba-Cecil Plains Road at Bongeen on April 2.

Toowoomba Road Policing Unit Senior Sergeant Kim Hill said one of her officers wrote up five speeding tickets in a single shift while patrolling in Crows Nest last week.

“Modern cars have all sorts of safety features but at those sorts of speeds they are not going to help,” she said.

Toowoomba police will be out in force over the long weekend.

Police will be out in force in Toowoomba over the long weekend, with high profile operations on our highways, targeting the Fatal Five.

The tickets come after Toowoomba police booked their 150th drugged driver for 2021 during a static RBT on Bridge Street on Sunday.

The operation was part of the Queensland Police Service’s Easter road safety enforcement operation which runs from April 1 to April 18.

A 32-year-old Jondaryan man was allegedly detected with an illegal drug in his system and will appear before the Toowoomba Magistrates Court on May 21, charged with drug driving.

Nine further offences, including a drink driver, were detected during the operation.

Officer-in-charge of Toowoomba Station, Senior Sergeant Tony Neumann, said he had concerns about the high number of drugged driving detections.

“This is almost three times the number of drink drivers,” he said.

“Toowoomba Police are committed to continuing this type of enforcement to ensure our roads are safe for all road users.”