The Crisafulli government has announced a sweeping crackdown on dangerous driving, doubling penalties for drug and drink drivers and reinforcing its zero‑tolerance stance on drug driving including for medical cannabis users.
Attorney General Deb Frecklington said the government will introduce two new bills to parliament aimed at delivering harsher consequences for motorists who put lives at risk. She said the message must be unmistakable: dangerous behaviour on the road will carry serious repercussions.
“We will be introducing not one, but two bills into the parliament to ensure that people know that if you do the wrong thing on the road, then you will suffer the consequences by putting other people’s lives at risk,” she said.
Under the reforms, the maximum penalty for motor vehicle offences resulting in death or grievous bodily harm will rise from 16 years to 25 years. Minimum licence disqualification periods will increase, and mandatory imprisonment will be expanded for serious and repeat dangerous driving offenders.
Frecklington said the legislation also closes a long‑criticised loophole by making the presence of methamphetamine in a driver’s system an automatic aggravating factor in dangerous driving cases without requiring proof that the drug impaired the driver at the time.
“The fact that you are driving with meth in your system, that is now enough to prove that is a circumstance of aggravation,” she said.
The reforms mark one of the state’s most significant road‑safety overhauls in years, reflecting growing public concern over reckless driving and drug‑related crashes.
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