Sadly, one person died in a fatal traffic crash in the Wide Bay Burnett district during Operation Cold Snap, bringing the total road fatalities for the district so far this year to 14 lives, as of 8 July.
That’s in addition to 56 people injured in 45 injury crashes.
Wide Bay Burnett District Officer Superintendent Anne Vogler said, “Our goal is always zero lives lost, so it’s very saddening when we lose someone on our roads.”
“Any life lost is a tragedy so we will continue to educate and enforce to strengthen road safety in our community.”
The Sunshine Coast region also lost another person in a fatal traffic crash during the school holidays, reaching four deaths on Sunshine Coast road’s this year.
Sunshine Coast Highway Patrol Officer in Charge Senior Sergeant Shane Panoho said, “Though school is back, patrols don’t stop here.”
“Sunshine Coast Highway Patrol is committed to keeping Sunshine Coast roads safe for all road users and will continue to do so each and every day.”
From 22 June to 8 July, Wide Bay Burnett police issued more than 500 traffic infringement notices (TIN) and breath tested more than 6000 drivers.
An example of this occurred on 26 June, during patrols of the Old Bruce Highway in Tuchekoi, southbound, when a Highway Patrol Gympie officer recorded a vehicle driving at 142km/h in a 100km/h zone.
After pulling the driver over, police saw the man’s drivers licence was suspended, his car had bald tyres and he blew 0.070 BAC in a roadside breath test.
The 18-year-old Southside man was issued with a TIN for driving a defective vehicle, worth $309 and a TIN for exceeding the speed limit in speed zone by more than 40km/h, worth $1780.
The man was also issued with a notice to appear for driving a motor vehicle without a driver licence.
He is due to appear in the Gympie Magistrates Court on 18 July.
Superintendent Vogler said strengthening road safety in the area was a priority.
“School holidays always bring significant increase in traffic volumes across our roads so Operation Cold Snap aims to address that directly,” she said.
“The highlight of the operation for me was to hear about all the conversations police officers were able to have with drivers to create awareness of proven causes of traffic crashes including speed, impaired driving, fatigue, seat belt use, driver distraction and vehicle safety standards.”
Operation Cold Snap also extended to the beaches, with high visibility patrols conducted on K’gari.
