Picture: supplied
Queensland’s peak motoring club, the RACQ wants motorists to take better care in securing their load.
The RACQ have listed some of the more unusual items that have been found on state roads such as mattresses and step-ladders.
The discards are being cleaned up by the club’s Traffic Response Unit (TRU) officers, who provide clean-up, traffic control and break-down assistance for the Department of Transport and Main Roads and Brisbane City Council.
RACQ Principal Technical Researcher and a former patrol officer himself, Andrew Kirk said the team attended more than 20,500 jobs in the 2023-24 financial year.
“In the last financial year, they picked up 30 mattresses, 15 step-ladders, 12 garden tools and 10 pieces of outdoor furniture, among other obscure items,” he says.
“The team has also come across the usual suspects found on our roads, including tie-down straps, tarps as well as plastic, timber and metal debris.”
Kirk says regardless of travel distance, it doesn’t take long to secure your load correctly.
“Whether you’re doing a spring clean trip to the dump, moving house or completing a DIY project, we want to issue a timely reminder for motorists to safely load their vehicle or trailer,” Kirk said.
“Taking an extra 10 or 15 minutes to ensure your load is correctly secured could save you or another motorist from a potentially deadly incident.
“Not only is it a legal requirement but it guarantees the safety of everyone using our roads and also ensures you don’t damage the road infrastructure.”
In addition to clearing items, the TRUs attended traffic incidents, including 2718 crashes, in FY24.
Kirk says any number of crashes is too many.
“While the work our TRUs do in patrolling Queensland roads is important, we’d rather see them attending zero crashes,” he said.
“We urge Queenslanders to consider the safety of themselves and others every time they get behind the wheel and always drive to the conditions.”
Items found in FY24:
15 step-ladders;
30 mattresses and bedding;
50 tie-down straps;
40 tyre carcasses;
10 pieces of outdoor furniture;
10 plastic pipes;
56 pieces of metal debris;
10 air-conditioning ducts;
10 rolls of wall/ceiling insulation;
12 garden tools;
24 vehicle components;
38 pieces of timber debris;
14 tarps; and
32 pieces of plastic debris.
