Police ‘on right track’ with new traffic office
POLICE have opened a new traffic branch on Cape York following the big increase in tourist vehicles and concerns over driver safety.
The Cooktown Road Policing Unit started work last month and becomes the fifth unit in the Far North, along with Cairns, Mareeba, Innisfail and Ravenshoe.
The two-man office will be backed up by local officers and the other units. “It’s about preparing for growth in Cape York as the PDR (Peninsula Development Rd) is improved,” Road Policing Command Assistant Commissioner Mike Keating said.
“We just hope to create a safer environment.”
Mr Keating, who spearheads traffic branches across the state, was previously stationed in the Far North more than a decade ago and said the growing visitor numbers to the remote area was obvious then.
“It’s about seeing the future and responding to it,” he said.
Concerns have been raised over the condition of the PDR this year on the back of a late wet season.
There were also two serious crashes, one fatal, in the space of a week earlier this month.
The Far North continues to buck the trend and have one of the worst road tolls in the state with senior officers confirming at the launch of Road Safety Week on Monday that driver attitude in the region was Queensland’s worst. A special road safety forum was held in Cairns yesterday due to the poor results.
Mr Keating said it might be time the region was specifically targeted with driver safety campaigns.
Work continues to fully seal the PDR, with 200km left between Laura and Weipa. Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said the sealing was his “favourite project” given the expected tourist surge it will create.
“We’re getting it done as quickly as we can,” he said.
“We’re seeing more and more people coming up to Cape York because it’s getting safer.”
Road Safety Week events continued across Cairns yesterday with Kidsafe inspectors providing free checks on child restraints to the public.
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