Be patient on roads: Police
Officers out in force for Christmas
THE number one message to motorists from Darling Downs police this Christmas is - be patient.
Officers will be out in force over coming days as the amount of traffic on our roads increases.
Country patrol and support services inspector Regan Draheim said along with a state-wide Christmas safety campaign, local officers would target speed, inattention and drug and drink driving.
“There is also ongoing funding to do high visibility, high patrol and RBTs, including drug driving, and that allows us to get a bit more coverage particularly in early mornings and late at night. So we are trying to cover a 24-hour period,” Insp Draheim said.
“Focusing not just on the highways but also on more rural and country routes as well because we know that obviously fatigue and complacency in those areas is just as high as it is anywhere.”
Insp Draheim warned it
was unlikely motorists would not see a police presence this long weekend.
“We ask people to be vigilant about their road safety driving habits particularly with paying attention to other road users and not using their mobile
phones while driving,” he said.
“Inattention has become, I would suggest, probably a major contributing factor to traffic crashes over the past few years.”
He said motorists needed to understand there would
be more traffic on the roads, which would cause congestion.
“Take that five seconds to put their seat belt on, know that they are going to get to their destination even if it is five minutes late, don’t drink and drive and wait for
someone to come pick you up or call a taxi, and also, speeding is not the answer.”
During the past five years, there were 117 road fatalities and 1696 people hospitalised as a result of 1477 serious crashes within the Darling Downs District.