Air Rescue crews added their voice to calls for regional motorists to drive safely during the recent Queensland Road Safety Week.
QGAir, part of the Queensland Police Service’s Aviation Capability Group, provides aeromedical retrievals, search and rescue and law enforcement tasking.
Pilot, Darren O’Brien said QGAir had responded to 50 crashes since the start of this year.
“These crashes are often serious and occur in areas that aren’t easily accessible by road crews,” Mr O’Brien said.
“If you crash in a regional part of Queensland, it will always take longer for emergency services to get to you,” he said.
“There are many hazards when driving on the regional road network that often don’t exist in urban areas.”
General Manager of Operations for LifeFlight Rescue, Brian Guthrie said motor vehicle incidents were among the most common callouts for the RACQ rescue helicopter fleet.
“It’s incredibly concerning that over the past 12 months crashes have continued to be one of the most common mission types for the RACQ LifeFlight Rescue community choppers,” Mr Guthrie said.
“Our message to all motorists is to drive like your life depends on it, because it does.”
He said that although LifeFlight Rescue was ready to respond 24/7, 365 days a year, “we would much rather see people driving safely and we hope to see a reduction in the amount of crashes we respond to”.
