New traffic operation yields fines

Cracking down on driver errors

MORE than 1000 motorists on their way to work were stopped by police in a high-profile targeted road safety campaign yesterday.

Officers from the Toowoomba Road Policing Unit, Tactical Crime Squad, bicycle squad and Highfields station intercepted 1008 vehicles for alcohol and drug tests on the New England Highway at Harlaxton.

RPU Acting Sergeant Matt Simpson said the enforcement campaign was a stand-alone operation targeting impaired driving.

He said of the 1008 vehicles stopped, one driver returned a positive roadside breath test.

But worryingly, of the 15 random roadside drug tests, five motorists returned a positive reading.

The traffic operation targeted outbound traffic approaching Blue Mountain Heights from 5.30-9am.

It follows the early success in Toowoomba of the ongoing Operation Quebec Yield, a statewide campaign boring down on distracted driving.

Officers from various units within the police rolled out two phases of the operation on November 29.

Plain clothes officers filmed traffic at the intersection of James and West Sts on Thursday morning, with motorists later fined with offences such as using a mobile phone while driving and running red or yellow lights.

A second phase in the Toowoomba CBD involved plain clothes officers on bicycles patrolling city intersections in an effort to identify drivers breaking road rules at traffic lights.

Sgt Simpson said 114 offences were detected across the two phases, including 53 motorists found using mobile phones while driving or at traffic lights, 11 people not wearing seatbelts, eight registration offences, and eight motorists running red or yellow lights.

Operation Quebec Yield runs through to January 31.