Innovative red light technology will be rolled out at 15 intersections at high risk of crashes across Queensland.
An infant child was among three people who have been taken to hospital after being pulled from a vehicle which crashed through a fence and rolled onto a school oval south of Brisbane.
Minister for Transport and Main Roads Mark Bailey said Hold the Red technology would be extended to 15 locations across the state including North Queensland, Western Queensland, Central Queensland and South East Queensland.
While the government is tight-lipped about where the technology will be, one spot guaranteed to have it is the intersection of Finucane and Windermere roads at Alexandra Hills, southeast of Brisbane, which in the past has been the scene of heartbreaking fatal crashes.
The technology identifies someone about to go through a red light from 150m away and holds the red for another two seconds to let the person speeding get through.
Queensland Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey
Eighty-four people have so far lost their lives on Queensland roads. Last year, 297 people died.
The technology was first announced in 2018 and was rolled out in four locations across SEQ but will now be extended to the rest of Queensland – the first in Australia.
“People running red lights is a huge risk to other people – to get T boned in the driver’s door, it has very dire consequences,” Mr Bailey said.
“What we found is that (the technology) prevents 33 per cent – one in three crashes occurring from people running a red light.”
Mr Bailey said the technology would be rolled out in the next 12 months installed by the middle of next year.
Mr Bailey said the locations were picked based on crash records and natures of the crashes at these areas.
Department of Main Roads executive director of engineering and technology Peter Kalesnike said while the technology can be combined with a red light camera, even if it wasn’t it’s still effective in preventing crashes.
“This has significant benefits in terms of reducing road trauma, we have national targets to reduce our fatalities by 50 per cent in the year 2031 and 30 per cent for hospitalisation, also in 2031,” he said.
RACQ chief executive David Carter said it was important for everyone to think about road safety.
“We’ve been calling in our submissions to government to expand this trial, this is technology that is working – it is saving lives,” he said.
“It particularly saves the lives of the most vulnerable users of our roads so motorcyclists, cyclists, scooter riders or pedestrians – where the impact of a vehicle running the red light can be catastrophic.”