Extract from ABC News
Queensland Police Service has launched a year-round road safety enforcement operation to help curb road deaths. (ABC News: Chris Gillette)
In short:
Queensland police have launched a year-round road safety operation — Operation Interpose — in a bid to curb another horror year on the state's roads.
Police hours spent on road enforcement dropped by 46 per cent in the five years between the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and 2024.
What's next?
Operation Interpose will run between the four major road safety campaigns that are usually underway during the school holidays.
Queensland police have launched a rolling year-round road safety operation in a bid to boost their presence and visibility on the roads as they target law breaking drivers.
It comes after the ABC last year revealed a sharp drop in road safety enforcement hours from police in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The operation, dubbed Interpose, began on Saturday and is rolling out amid another horror year on Queensland roads, with 98 lives lost as of Thursday last week.
Operation Interpose will run between the four major road safety campaigns that are usually underway during the school holidays.
Rule-breaking drivers to be targeted
Chief Superintendent Mark Wheeler said the launch of Interpose meant there would be an "operational focus" on road safety for the entirety of the year.
It will also ensure rule-breaking drivers are targeted outside of peak travel periods.
"We acknowledge since COVID-19, particularly at the peak of the pandemic, we did have to cease certain road safety operations," Chief Superintendent Wheeler told the ABC.
"We saw a corresponding decrease in those enforcement and other road safety activities over a period of time.
"So, what we realised was that the best way that we can try to bring down the lives lost is to make sure that we've got high visibility operations occurring."
Chief Superintendent Mark Wheeler says the high-visibility operation will help curb road deaths. (ABC News: Michael Lloyd)
In 2019, the last full calendar year before the COVID pandemic struck, police logged 890,728 road safety enforcement hours.
But by 2024 this had fallen to 478,143 hours, reflecting a 46 per cent drop over the five-year period.
The number of lives lost on Queensland roads, meanwhile, climbed from a record low of 220 in 2019 to 302 in 2024.
"I think when we saw the decrease in that enforcement in that road safety operational tempo, we certainly saw an increase in road trauma," Chief Superintendent Wheeler acknowledged.
"And that's not just in the fatalities, but also in injury crashes.
"Also compounding this challenge is that Queensland is a growing state. We know since 2019, there are at least half a million more licenced drivers on our roads."
Police hours on the road climbing
In 2025, there was an upswing in police hours on the road, with 522,968 hours dedicated towards traffic enforcement.
As of March 31 this year, police had logged 129,976 hours — putting them on track for a similar number of hours to last year.
Chief Superintendent Wheeler said he believed Operation Interpose would help lift those enforcement hours.
"There was a period of time undoubtedly that the general public felt that there weren't many police out there, so you could take more risks," he said.
"You could speed, you could have a few drinks at the pub and still drive home. Well, we're here to tell you, you can't do that."
Police are planning to use all road safety strategies during the operation.
The operation will involve high-visibility techniques including patrols, random breath testing, and speed detection equipment. (Supplied: QPS)
This includes high visibility patrols, random breath testing, and the deployment of speed detection equipment.
"For the entirety of the year, there will be an operational focus," Chief Superintendent Wheeler warned.
"Really, really focused, intelligence led, information from our districts, information from our regions, as to where we need to be deploying our resources."
The other operations run during the holiday periods are called Mistletoe, Easter Break, Cold Snap, and Spring Break.
In 2025, Queensland's road toll came to 306, which was five more deaths than the year before.
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