Police have vowed to be out in force this Easter long weekend, saying they owe it to the families of those Queenslanders who have lost their lives on the roads this year.

Traffic’s already ramped up on major arterials as drivers head out of the city as the lockdown ends.

Police will be out in force, targeting speeding and distracted drivers.

26 more people have died on the state’s roads this year, compared to the same time last year, bringing the toll to 74 lives lost on Queensland’s roads in 2021.

Assistant Police Commissioner Ben Marcus said while drivers will see a lot of police, there will be police out there on the roads that they won’t be able to spot.

“You will also not see a lot of police because we have all of our plain clothed fleet out there, unmarked cars and motorcycles, 4WD’s on the beaches.

“We’ve got cars on city streets, we’ve got cars on highways, and we have the Rocky Nats on this weekend up in Rockhampton so we are heavily policing the Bruce Highway between Brisbane Rockhampton.

“We make absolutely no secret of it we are out in force this long weekend because 74 people who have already lost their lives on Queensland roads, we owe it to their families to not add to that number.”

The Easter weekend is a high-risk time to be on our roads. @qldpolice launched their Easter road safety campaign and the message was clear – if you’re heading away don’t make the journey a chore, take regular breaks, slow down and obey the rules. We don’t want anymore tragedies. pic.twitter.com/K2U6iaWpSf

— RACQ (@RACQOfficial) April 1, 2021

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