QLD: State road toll up to eight

AAP General News (Australia)
12-26-1998
QLD: State road toll up to eight

(EDS: Updates national road toll further down)

BRISBANE, Dec 26 AAP - Queensland's holiday road toll rose to eight with the death today of
a man injured when a car crashed into a tree in the Gold Coast hinterland five days ago.

Inspector Peter Mansfield of the state traffic support branch said last year's holiday road
toll had reached 13 at this point.

"We're confident our road safety campaign is helping and that the message to take care and
to drive responsibly is geting through," he said.

Since the holiday period started on December 21, Queensland police have booked 10,991
motorists, mostly for speeding.

Other offences included 747 for drink driving and and 735 for not wearing seatbelts.

Queensland's road toll for the year stood at 278, still 81 below the number of fatalities
for 1997.

Nationally there have been 37 lives lost on the roads during the Christmas-New Year holiday
period with only the Northern Territory remaining fatality-free.

New South Wales has recorded the most fatalities since last Friday, with 10 deaths.

Victoria has had eight deaths, Western Australia four, and South Australia and Tasmania
have had three road deaths each.

There has been one death in the ACT.

AAP geb/cfm/rap

KEYWORD: TOLL QLD

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