Queensland road toll climbs to 158 after 10 people killed in horror weekend
The recent tragedies take Queensland's road toll to 158 so far this year, with fears 2025 could end up surpassing last year's total of 302, which was the highest in 15 years.
Three of the five fatal crashes over the weekend were in central Queensland.
On Sunday morning, emergency services were called to the Capricorn Highway, between Comet and Blackwater, in the Central Highlands, as two vehicles had crashed and caught fire.
Four people died at the scene and two men in their 20s are in a serious condition in Brisbane and Emerald hospitals.
In the Mackay region, three teenagers died after a head-on collision on the Mackay Ring Road in Glenella on Friday night.
The driver, aged 29, was taken to Mackay Base Hospital in a serious condition.
On Saturday morning, a 45-year-old motorcyclist died after he crashed into a ute and trailer stopped in front of him at Mount Pleasant, in Mackay.
Further south, an 18-year-old Kingaroy man died in Hivesville, in the South Burnett region, on Sunday morning when he was struck by a vehicle while lying on the road, police say.
On Friday night, emergency services were called to Tamborine, in the Scenic Rim, to reports a man had fallen out of a car.
A 26-year-old man sustained critical injuries and died at the scene.
There have been 158 fatalities from Queensland road crashes so far this year.
Michael Kane, head of public policy for Queensland's peak motoring body RACQ, said the latest tragedies meant the state was heading towards equalling or exceeding last year's road toll.
There were 302 road crash fatalities in 2024 in Queensland — the highest in 15 years.
"So many lives have been lost and so many other lives have been terribly impacted," Dr Kane said.
Dr Kane said the growing road toll showed we had a lot of work to do as a community to turn it around.
"There is no reason why we should accept a worsening road toll for a number of years; it was getting better," he said.
Dr Kane said while there was a need for safer roads and better maintenance, particularly in regional areas, there also needed to be a focus on safer road culture.
"We are driving at high speeds, we think our cars are cocoons, but if we crash at a high speed or if we're doing the wrong thing in the way we drive, we can change and lose our life… or cause the loss of life of someone else as a random person or someone we love," he said.
RACQ is also calling for better traffic policing, following survey results which showed the public thought there wasn't enough police presence on the roads.
Dr Kane said there had been a decline in the statistics of random roadside breath and drug testing since 2023.
"We have seen in the last 12 months that start to change and the Queensland government has had a focus on getting more police into the police force and getting more random breath and drug tests, but that needs to step up," he said.
"But these changes can't be made overnight."
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