Queensland records 'horrific' road toll for 2022, surpassing Victoria and NSW
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Queensland's road toll for 2022 was the highest in more than a decade, with 299 lives lost.
The state's road toll last year was the highest since 2009, and included 70 motorcyclists, 29 pedestrians and 12 people who died in floodwaters.
That toll is also higher than road tolls in New South Wales and Victoria.
Acting Chief Superintendent Christopher Stream said announcing the number was a "horrific job".
"We can't just talk about these being statistics. These are people's lives," he said.
The latest death recorded was a man who died in a crash at Bauple on the last night of 2022, when his car and a truck collided on the Fraser Coast.
Also on Saturday night, paramedics treated 17 people for injuries after a crash at Miami on the Gold Coast.
Two people died after a tree fell on their car at the Sunshine Coast earlier on Saturday afternoon.
A 15-year-old Slacks Creek boy died Sunday morning when his motorbike crashed into a parked truck this morning.
Police are also still waiting to speak to the mother of Broncos star Payne Haas, Uiatu "Joan" Taufua, who is in hospital after being involved in a crash that killed three people from the one family in another car on the Gold Coast hinterland on Friday afternoon.
"As of yet, police don't have a medical clearance to interview that driver but, as soon as we can, that driver will be interviewed," Acting Chief Superintendent Stream said.
He said the driver in hospital suffered "significant injuries".
Acting Transport Minister Leanne Enoch spoke about the state's road toll on Sunday.
"Plain and simple it has been a terrible year on Queensland's roads," she said.
Ms Enoch said last year's "terrible" road toll has been attributed to a surge in "risky" behaviour on the roads since the pandemic.
"In 2019, we had the lowest road toll since records began … the pandemic hit and we've seen some major changes in behaviour," she said.
The amount of fatal motorcycle crashes, 70, has nearly doubled since 2018, when the state recorded 40 deaths.
Acting Chief Superintendent Stream said the majority of crashes involved either young riders or older riders who had started riding again after time off the roads.
"In not all of those cases was it the motorcycle riders' fault. In some cases, it was drivers turning in front of motorcyclists leaving them very little time to react," he said.
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Acting Chief Superintendent Stream said the fatal five — speeding, drink or drug driving, distracted driving, driving without a seat belt and fatigue — featured in most of the fatal crashes last year.
"The majority of these accidents were in fact preventable," he said.
Police will take extra steps to address road safety in 2023, including installing red light and speed cameras at intersections that are known to have crash histories and point-to-point cameras on highways.
"You will see increased random drug (and alcohol) testing conducted across different time frames," he said.
He said police were also testing new technology to address impaired driving.
Ms Enoch said the government was working on a new strategy to address the road toll, "to ensure that we've got the right mix of penalties and, of course, laws to ensure road safety in Queensland".
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