“WHAT would you do to save 116 lives?”
Jimboomba police Senior Sergeant Peter Waugh posed this question to the community after alarming Logan council statistics revealed 116 people died in fatalities on Logan roads between 2010 and June 30, 2018. .
Senior Sergeant Waugh said every fatality cost millions of dollars to the community.
“We have run road safety campaigns for a long time and we will not win through enforcement, high visibility patrols or education campaigns. It will take a combination of all these things and getting people to start taking responsibility and recognising a problem is there,” he said.
“People need to consider things like planning trips during high risk times of the day and making sure the car is roadworthy.
“A new tyre costs $100, but what does a life cost?”
Motorists aged 30 to 39 accounted for 18 of the lives lost, followed by the 16 to 20 age bracket (15) and the 25 to 29 age group (15).
Almost three quarters of those who died were men while women made up 26 per cent of the Logan death toll in the past eight years.
Every fatality was preventable, with 47 lives lost due to illegal manoeuvres, 33 from speeding, 15 from drink or drug driving, nine from fatigue, nine from not wearing a seat belt and four due to mobile phone use.
Senior Sergeant Waugh said the figures revealed that stupid decisions were to blame for the death toll.
“These are things as a community we can make a conscious decision not to do,” he said.
“It is not only the driver who needs to take responsibility it is the passenger or the kids who need to nicely remind their parents not to speed or to put on their seat belts.
“People can blame the roads and the rising population, however we can save 116 lives by making a conscious decision to drive to conditions and not drink and drive.”
A breakdown of the death toll shows 48 people were driving a car, 21 were passengers, 29 were motorbike riders, five were cyclists and 13 were pedestrians.
The figures were released as the Mount Lindesay Highway was listed as the third most unroadworthy road, according to an RACQ survey today.
RACQ spokesperson Lucinda Ross said 1643 people responded to the survey which identified the Bruce Highway as the worst stretch of road, followed by Alma Road in Dakabin and the Mount Lindesay Highway.
The report highlighted the lack of safe overtaking opportunities, rough, pot holded and narrow road surfacing, dangerous intersections and traffic growth outstripping upgrades.
Senior Sergeant Waugh said police would ramp up patrols during Queensland Road Safety Week from August 27 to 31.
