*The contents in this blog relates to legislation in Queensland.
For the period from 1 January to 30 May 2021, there have been 105 fatalities as a result of road traffic accidents within Queensland, which is 14 fatalities (or 15.4%) greater than the same period for the previous year and 14 fatalities (or 15.1%) greater than the previous five year average for the same period[i].
There has also been a 14.3% increase in the number of fatal road accidents in the Northern Queensland region, just since this time last year.[ii]
Once again we have compiled a list of the worst offending roads (by number of reported crashes) over the last decade[iii], this time focussing in on the Cairns region, to help you identify the road traffic accident black spots to be wary of when on the roads –
| 1. | Captain Cook Highway, Cairns – Mossman (1,646) |
| 2. | Bruce Highway, Innisfail – Cairns (1,476) |
| 3. | Cairns Western Arterial Road, Manoora (766) |
| 4. | Mulgrave Road, Earlville/Mooroobool (460) |
| 5. | Kennedy Highway, Cairns – Mareeba (375) |
| 6. | Anderson Street, Manunda/Cairns North (354) |
| 7. | Mcleod Street, Cairns North/Cairns City (276) |
| 8. | Aumuller Street, Portsmith/Bungalow (256) |
| 9. | Gillies Range Road, Little Mulgrave/Lamb Range (229) |
| 10. | Alpin Street, Cairns City (216) |
The Bruce Highway takes second place to the Captain Cook Highway as we travel north. Captain Cook Highway is in front by a small margin, ahead also of the Cairns Western Arterial Road (a clear third).
In addition to speed and drink driving, young adult driver/riders aged between 21 to 24 years have become a group of significant concern with the recorded fatalities in this age group effectively doubling from 2019 to 2020. The data also shows a 43% increase in fatalities for this age group when averaged over the period from 2015 to date[iv].
If you missed Part 1 of our most notorious roads blog for the sunshine coast, click here.
[i] https://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Safety/Transport-and-road-statistics/Road-safety-statistics
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] https://www.data.qld.gov.au/dataset/crash-data-from-queensland-roads/resource/e88943c0-5968-4972-a15f-38e120d72ec0.
[iv] https://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Safety/Transport-and-road-statistics/Road-safety-statistics
[iv] Ibid.