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Five people lost their lives in crashes on Queensland roads across the weekend, putting 2025 on track to be the deadliest year for road crashes in more than a decade.
Joshua Cooney, the general manager of advocacy at the state’s peak automotive body RACQ, said the state was gripped by an escalating road safety crisis, with the death toll sitting at 301 by Monday.
“This is just one fatality behind last year’s 15-year record of 302, and with nine days still left in the year, our state is tragically now on track to break that record again,” Cooney said.
Queensland’s road toll is set to eclipse last year’s.
Police responded to five fatal traffic incidents from Friday evening to midnight Sunday, including three in the Bundaberg and Wide Bay region, north of Brisbane.
A 71-year-old man died on Saturday after his car veered off Bauple Woolooga Road between Maryborough and Gympie and crashed into the Mary River.
Bystanders went into the river to try and save the driver, but police divers later found his body inside the car.
A second person, a 41-year-old male driver, died on Saturday morning after his car hit a semi-trailer along the Bruce Highway just north of Maryborough.
About midday Saturday, an 87-year-old female passenger suffered critical injuries after a Nissan X-Trail she was travelling in collided with a Holden Commodore at Childers Road, south of Bundaberg.
The woman died at the scene, and both drivers – an 82-year-old man in the Nissan and a 17-year-old boy in the Holden – were taken to Bundaberg Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Elsewhere in the state, a 74-year-old woman died in a crash near Toowoomba on Saturday after her vehicle veered off Oakey Pittsworth Road, and a 58-year-old woman died in Redbank after she was struck by a Honda Accord while walking near Brisbane Road, in Redbank, on Friday evening.
RACQ’s Josh Cooney said speeding was the single biggest cause of fatal traffic crashes in Queensland.Credit: RACQ
Police said investigations into the fatal crashes were ongoing on Monday, and urged anyone with CCTV or dashcam footage of the incidents to come forward.
RACQ’s Cooney urged those travelling during the festive season to take extra care, saying the “fatal five” – speeding, drink- or drug-driving, fatigue, distraction, and not wearing a seatbelt – were responsible for most deaths on the road.
He said speeding and driving under the influence were the largest two factors leading to road fatalities, causing more deaths in 2025 than the previous year.
“Alarmingly, we’re also still seeing no reduction in fatalities caused by fatigue or driver distraction,” Cooney said.
“Our message is simple: slow down, take your time, and keep your full attention on the road.”
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