Queensland recorded 274 fatalities in 2021, the highest number of any other state or territory in Australia according to the National Road Safety Strategy.

This year, Queensland has already lost 12 lives in 20 days.

Acting chief superintendent Ray Rohweder said there was a story behind each one of those deaths.

“We had such a better end to 2021, and myself and other people that are stakeholders in the road safety environment had such a positive attitude going into this year that we may have turned this around, and we get these figures and feels like we are banging our heads against the wall,” he told Scott Emerson.

He said some preliminary crash data has surprised him.

“It actually is appearing contrary to what [I have believed], most people are actually being involved in serious traffic crashes close to the area they live.

“Which is for me, I ask the question, are people over confident?”

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