Four people have died, and a toddler remains in hospital after a series of traffic accidents overnight.
Acting Inspector Peter Venz said police and paramedics were called to a head-on collision on School Road in Logan Reserve between an eastbound Ford Falcon ute and a grey Ford Focus about 9pm on Saturday. “It is reported that that vehicle was travelling at high speed and was in the process of overtaking three other vehicles on the wrong side of the road,” he said.
Venz said the Focus, which officers believed had been carrying three people, struck the ute before it careened off the road. A 51-year-old woman from Victoria – a passenger in the Ford Focus – suffered multiple significant injuries in the crash and was pronounced dead at the scene. “I understand that she has four children, they’ve been advised of this passing, so we’d like to pass on our thoughts and prayers to them,” Venz said.
Paramedics said another passenger, a two-year-old girl, suffered significant head injuries and was flown to Queensland Children’s Hospital in a potentially life-threatening condition. Police said the toddler was still hospitalised, but in a stable condition, on Sunday morning.
The vehicle was driven by a 28-year-old woman from Goodna who was the 51-year-old’s niece and the two-year-old’s mother. She was taken to Logan hospital for injuries to her legs, hips, and back. Officers believed the 51-year-old had been visiting family for the Easter holiday period.
A Queensland police spokesperson said the ute contained four people, all aged in their teens.
It was allegedly driven by a 17-year-old Logan Reserve girl, who Venz said escaped physical injury. “The 17-year-old female driver of that utility was transported to the Logan Hospital where police have taken blood samples from that driver to test for any substances that may be on board,” Venz said.
He said some of the passengers in the Ford ute were ejected from the car and suffered “injuries, but not life-threatening injuries”. Paramedics said one passenger, a girl in her teens who suffered significant leg injuries, was taken in a serious condition to Princess Alexandra Hospital. Another teenage girl suffering head injuries, and a teenage boy suffering head and chest injuries, were both taken to Logan Hospital in stable conditions.
Emergency services took some time to determine which vehicles people injured in the collision had been travelling with, and originally reported a male driver in the Ford Focus. Venz said police were investigating reports the ute had been travelling to an illegal “large-scale hoon event organised [Saturday] night”.
The event was later called off through a social media allegedly made by organisers of the event. “Tonight is being called off, too red hot and too many incidents that can’t be shared yet. Go home and be safe,” the post read. A second post allegedly made after the incident sent “thoughts and prayers” to the Victorian woman’s loved ones.
Venz could not comment on whether police had established a connection to the hooning event, but said police had a substantial amount of footage through CCTV and social media linked to the crash. “We’ll be investigating whether speed, driver behaviour, and also vehicle compliance were an issue,” Venz said.
He said police did not think the ute was stolen, but had received reports it had no number plates, was unregistered, and had its lights turned off in the lead-up to the crash. Police had yet to lay charges.
Venz urged motorists to remain vigilant on the roads as the Easter holiday weekend reached its final day.
Police recorded six deaths since Thursday last week, when road safety operations began. This included three other deaths overnight on Saturday in addition to the Logan Reserve crash.
About 6.50pm, an 18-year-old Redland Bay man was killed when his black Honda motorbike struck a white Kia Cerato collided on Boundary Road, at Thornlands. The rider was taken by helicopter to Princess Alexandra Hospital, but succumbed to his injuries shortly after arriving. The car driver, a 24-year-old man from Acacia Ridge, was not physically injured.
In the state’s far north, a 31-year-old man died following a quad bike rollover at Palmerston, a rural community about 110 kilometres south of Cairns. Officers were called to the single-vehicle crash on Pullom Road about 5pm and discovered a green Kawasaki quad bike had hit a pole.
A fourth person died on Saturday night – an 83-year-old man from Wellington Point – who succumbed to injuries from a single-vehicle crash in Wishart on Thursday morning. His passenger, an 86-year-old woman, remained in a critical condition at Princess Alexandra Hospital.
Queensland ambulance officers also responded to a number of other serious incidents on Saturday evening, including another quad bike crash in Toowoomba, a head-on motorbike collision in the Southern Downs region, and a single-vehicle crash in which two people were thrown from the vehicle in Greenbank.
