June 24, 2020
South Burnett motorists will notice more police out and about over the next few weeks with three different traffic operations active in a bid to curb Queensland’s growing road toll.
Officer-in-charge of Kingaroy Police, Senior Sergeant Dave Tierney, said there would be extra police vehicles on the road and more static RBT testing sites.
As well, traffic units will be ramping up roadside drug tests.
At the start of this week, the official Queensland road toll stood at 111, almost 20 per cent higher than at the same time last year.
Snr Sgt Tierney said three traffic operations will be active in the South Burnett:
- Operation Winter – which starts on Friday and will run throughout the school holidays
- Operation Sierra Protection – running into September
- Operation Sierra Cold Snap – also running during the school holidays
Police would be targeting the Fatal Five as well as COVID-19 health directions.
Snr Sgt Tierney emphasised that road safety was not just a policing issue.
“It’s a community responsibility. It’s the responsibility of passengers, partners and parents,” he said.
He noted that people seemed to have been acting very responsibly to protect their health during the COVID-19 crisis.
But too often, when they get behind the wheel they act with no regard for their own safety, the safety of their passengers or other road users.
OIC Sarge Dave: Please get your troops to observe carefully how Kingaroy drivers treat the orange traffic light issue. Twice in the last year or so while stopping for the orange, I have had a driver pop out from behind me and accelerate as if they wanted to be at their destination yesterday. They made it across without incident; but that is not the point is it?
Another issue needing some considerable attention is the way some of the extremely arrogant cycle riders use pedestrian crossings. Twice recently I have needed to brake sharply to avoid possible contact with said cyclists (luckily I was going relatively slowly). Both times I saw the riders approaching moderately rapidly but I sure did not expect them to burst on to the crossing in front of me rapidly.
By the way. they were not kids. One was an elderly “gentleman” and the other middle-aged; both old enough to know how to use pedestrian crossings safely AND legally. Both were fully dressed in all the latest fancy cycling gear (this shows total arrogance) but were devoid of any common sense!
While in Kingaroy I always watch carefully as a lot of times I see stupid moronic and impatient behaviour by drivers and cyclists. Hey, just chill out a bit and consider others a bit more.