Logan District police have released vision of officers intercepting a 4-wheel-drive Utility carrying a dozen people inside the vehicle, Queensland Police say.
The Toyota Hilux was intercepted around 2:15am on New Year’s Day on Castille Crescent in Edens Landing. Police will allege that when the vehicle stopped 12 people scrambled out of the rear tray and front cab areas.
A 21-year-old male driver from Mount Cotton was issued with a Notice to Appear for exceeding carrying capacity of a vehicle, unlicensed driving, possess drug utensil and drink driving with an alleged BAC of 0.038%.
Acting Senior Sergeant Adrian Burns of the Tactical Crime Squad said people were laying down in the rear of the ute packed side by side like sardines.
"Driving behind them, police could see there were unrestrained people in the back tray which is not only illegal but extremely dangerous. Not wearing a seatbelt is one of the fatal five, 14% of all fatalities in Queensland involved an unrestrained person." Acting Senior Sergeant Burns said.
Inspector Neal White, Road Policing Command said the outcome could have been very different had the vehicle been involved in a crash.
"If this vehicle had crashed or rolled we would now be talking about multiple people seriously or even fatally injured. I encourage everyone to stop and think about your actions before getting behind the wheel of any vehicle or riding a motorcycle. We want everyone to be safe and feel safe on our roads." Inspector White said.
Police around the state are reminding the community that during the festive break they are continuing to target motorists who are speeding, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, driving without a seatbelt, driving distracted and driving while fatigued in an effort to make sure everyone gets home safe.
The Festive Break phase of the Christmas Road Safety Campaign will continue until 11.59pm January 3, 2017.
Vision of the incident can be found here:
Anyone with information which could assist with this matter should contact Crime Stoppers anonymously.
