May 28, 2026
You weren’t imagining it if you thought there were a lot more police out and about in the South Burnett this week …
Extra marked and unmarked police vehicles and four motorbike officers were cruising local roads as part of “Operation Auster”, a traffic enforcement operation which targets areas across the Southern Region about twice a year.
The operation included a static RBT site in Murgon, extra enforcement in the school zone on the Bunya Highway at Kumbia as well as random patrols.
Inspector David Campbell, who was leading the operation, said 31 lives had been lost on Southern Region roads so far this year, 10 more than last year.
Across Queensland, the road toll on Wednesday stood at 135, ie. 27 more lives lost than for the same time last year.
This figure, of course, does not include all the road crash victims who have suffered life-changing injuries.
“It has been a really bad year for road trauma and police are trying to do everything we can to reduce it,” Inspector Campbell said.
He said Operation Auster had been timed to build on the messages being shared during National Road Safety Week and Fatality Free Friday (see below).
By Wednesday afternoon, Operation Auster had already conducted 1171 random breath tests, detecting eight alleged drink-drivers; as well as 61 random drug tests, detecting 11 alleged drug drivers.
As well, four disqualified drivers had been located and 102 traffic tickets issued, including 55 for speeding.
Other tickets were issued for driving defective vehicles or unregistered / uninsured vehicles.
A truck hauling farm equipment was stopped because of a dangerous, insecure load.
Eighteen people had been charged with 24 offences, including drug possession.
At Kogan, a 46-year-old man was pulled over after being caught doing 150km/h in a 100km/h zone. The driver also allegedly tested positive to cannabis.
At Bell, a vehicle with interstate registration plates was stopped and found to be unregistered.
Inspector Campbell said he wanted to warn South Burnett drivers that if they were driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, there was a very high chance that they would be intercepted, prosecuted and would lose their licences.
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Friday is the Australian Road Safety Foundation’s annual “Fatality Free Friday” campaign.
ARSF founder Russell White said road safety initiatives such as this helped rewrite the way road users approached risk.
“Our research shows that despite seven in 10 drivers breaking road rules, almost the same amount (72 per cent) believe that they’re making safe choices on the road, and it’s that gap between belief and behaviour where lives are lost,” Mr White said.
“Road deaths are preventable if people make safer choices and this is the foundation for meaningful change.”
