The Palaszczuk Government is cracking down on drivers running red lights, speeding and flouting seatbelt rules.
In its 10-year road safety strategy announced today, outlining the approach to saving lives on Queensland Roads, the state government announced tough new fines for offenders.
“Running a red-light will now set you back more than $550 [up from $413 to $575 ] and drivers will continue to receive three demerit points for this offence,” said Transport Minister Mark Bailey.
“Penalties for seatbelt offences will also see a significant increase to more than $1000 [$413 to $1078], as well as increasing the demerit point penalty from three to four.
“In the first four months of our new seatbelt detection cameras going live, almost 14,000 seatbelt offences were recorded.
“We’ve been educating drivers on the importance of seatbelts for 50 years, but somehow the message didn’t get through to almost 14,000 people, so it’s time to get tough.”
Those caught speeding can also expect stiffer penalties across the board, with the 31-40km/h range being the costliest ticket, up from $643 to $1078 and 6 demerit points.
Bailey said every cent collected from the fines will be re-invested into road safety.
“This year alone, we have over $1.7 billion invested in road safety initiatives to prioritise road safety upgrades, improve driver education, make school zones safer and develop policies to reduce road crashes and trauma,” he said.
“In 2021 almost a quarter of lives lost on the road involved motorcyclists which is something we don’t want to see repeated this year.
“Our Ride to Zero campaign will be rolled out in collaboration with motorcycle groups and organisations that actively contribute to the development and implementation of community-led rider safety.”
Bailey said the strategy would be delivered in three phases across 10 years, with each phase supported by an action plan. The first of these is the Queensland Road Safety Action Plan 2022-24.
“This action plan is focused on initiating change, with 20 practical actions to improve road safety outcomes and set the foundations for future initiatives,” he said.
Bailey said the Queensland Road Safety Strategy 2022-31 was aimed at reducing the number of lives lost on our roads.
“We’ve had a tragic start to the year, with 81 lives lost on Queensland roads already – that’s 81 people who are missing from dinner tables around the state,” Bailey said.
“Today we are reaffirming our commitment to zero road deaths and serious injuries by 2050 by cracking down on driver behaviour.”
“Speeding penalties will be increased to send a clear message that speeding, regardless of the level, is dangerous and will not be tolerated.”