SPEED TAKES TOLL ON FNQ

Cops angry over spike in leadfoots

THIRTY-SIX leadfooted Far North motorists are getting busted speeding every day as furious police demand drivers take re- sponsibility in the wake of a spiralling road toll.

Exclusive figures obtained by the Cairns Post show the number of people caught speeding has climbed dramatically in the past three years with 1300 extra tickets issued in 2016 than the year before.

Drug-driving numbers are also on the rise.

The figures come the day after a Far North crash investigator said he was “sick of putting people in body bags” after the 12th death within 12 weeks in the Far North.

The region has been in the grip of a shocking road toll for the past three years and fed up senior officers say most of the deaths could have been avoided. Speeding is understood to contribute to about a third of fatalities, often mixed with lethal combinations of drug or alcohol use behind the wheel.

Far North police Chief Supt Brett Schafferius said the figures “need to be a concern for the entire community”.

“Tragically this year the Far North is yet again seeing senseless preventable deaths on our roads due to poor driving behaviour,” he said.

“I implore all road users to take ownership of their actions while driving.”

Cairns Road Policing Unit Sen-Sgt Preben Farbaek said the increasing speed figures were coupled with increased enforcement and every station in the region was now equipped with some type of speed detection device.

“We had a high-range (reading) during the long weekend and the attitude of the driver is that he was told he could get away with it because there were no police,” he said.

The driver was clocked at 164km/h near Mt Carbine.