Extra police will be out in force on Queensland roads as officers ramp up their road safety operations over the Easter school holidays. Police will be targeting drivers who are speeding and those driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, as the current road toll surpasses this time last year by 15.
Operation Easter Break, the state-wide Easter road safety initiative was announced in Brisbane today (March 26) and will run from Good Friday, March 29 to Sunday, April 14.
Acting Commissioner Steve Gollschewski emphasised that the Road Policing Taskforce, Highway Patrol Units and General Duties police would be out in force these Easter holidays across Queensland.
“We have seen far too many fatal crashes this year already,” he said.
“Every crash leaves a devastated family behind.”
The state-wide road safety initiative will see police conducting large-scale static and mobile enforcement for drink and drug driving using dedicated drug testing devices which can detect methylamphetamine, MDMA, cannabis and cocaine.
Through the months of January and February, 2024 police conducted 238,154 breath tests and 8,197 drug tests across Queensland, and detected 2,176 drink driving offences and 1,899 drug driving offences.
During last year’s Easter enforcement road safety initiative, police detected 1,244 drink and drug drivers over the school holiday period and issued 11,181 infringements to drivers, including 1,126 infringements for speeding.
If you have a blood alcohol content over 0.05, your risk of being involved in a crash doubles.
The operation will also heavily be enforcing speed limits, utilising speed cameras and other speed detection devices.
During the same period of January and February, police issued 20,097 infringement notices for speeding.
Speeding and driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol are major causes of fatal and serious traffic crashes.
Acting Assistant Commissioner Andrew Pilotto from Road Policing and Regional Support Command asked road users to make good choices and think about the consequences of one bad decision.
“There’s no excuse for speeding or driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs,” he said.
“Don’t risk your live and the lives of those around you.”
“Be patient, be considerate and be safe on the roads.”
