Despite the alarming rise in the amount of deaths on Queensland roads in 2016, figures for the Logan District remain the same.
Road Policing Unit Senior Sergeant Scott Lacey confirmed 14 people lost their lives on local roads last year – the exact number of fatalities as in 2015.
Across the state, 250 people died on roads in 2016 – seven deaths more than in 2015 and 27 more than the 223 on-road deaths in 2014.
“We were actually doing so well for the most part of 2016, with only nine fatalities, but when we got towards the end of the year, we had another five fatalities in a matter of six weeks,” he said.
“Two of which were at Jimboomba, one was on the Mount Lindesay Highway and another occurred at Yarrabilba when a truck side swiped a bus and the driver of the bus died.
“It was incredibly sad.”
Of the 14 fatalities in 2016, four were motorcyclists – half the amount of riders killed than in 2015.
“That’s actually an improvement for our area,” Senior Sergeant Lacey said.
“Motorbikes are very popular in the south-west, in areas like Canungra and Beaudesert.
“People go out on the weekend and use them for recreational purposes.”
Senior Sergeant Lacey further added his intention to push the Fatal Five – speeding, drink and drug driving, failure to wear a seatbelt and driving while fatigued – in 2017.
“I’ll be meeting up with Logan City Council and the Department of Transport and Main Roads next week, as part of the first SafeRoads4Logan meeting for 2017, and we’ll be reviewing everything we saw on our roads in 2016,” he said.
“The last thing we want to do is exceed the amount of fatalities we had last year, so we really need to make sure we’re pushing for people to slow down, switch on and turn their phones off.
“That’s probably one of the biggest concerns we have with young people driving.
“All it takes is a phone call or a text message to distract a driver, and before you know it, they’re in a situation which could of easily been avoided.”
