ON May 16 2009, Judy Lindsay received a phone call that no parent should receive, one that changed her life forever.
Her daughter, 20-year-old Hayley Russell was killed in a crash only a few kilometres from home in Alexandra Hills.
That night a driver made the decision to get behind the wheel drunk. A decision that turned a normal night out into a tragedy.
Twelve lives were lost on Queensland roads in the June/July holiday period, the state's road toll now sits 16 above the same time last year.
To raise awareness for road safety, at the close of state-wide school holiday road safety campaign Operation Cold Snap, Ms Lindsay shared her story about how one person's actions behind the wheel impacted her life, and her family's life forever.
With Operation Cold Snap today coming to an end Minister for Police Mark Ryan, Commissioner Katarina Carroll and Assistant Commissioner Ben Marcus joined to discuss the results of the operation.
"We appreciate the overall community mindfulness of driving responsibly and safely over the past few weeks but sadly, 12 lives have been lost on our roads since the school holidays began on June 27," Commissioner Carroll said.
"Compared to the same time last year, Queensland has seen a road toll increase of 16. This is too many".
Mr Ryan said one life lost on the roads was one too many.
"With Queensland tourism opening up again, Operation Cold Snap has provided a timely reminder for all motorists to stay alive and avoid the fatal five."
Assistant Commissioner Marcus said as part of the operation, officers across Queensland had conducted high visibility operations to enforce the road rules and remind motorists of the fatal five factors; speeding, drink/drug driving, distraction, fatigue and seat belt use.
A total of 9.977 drivers had been detected committing life endangering offences,
"Of that enforcement, 7,718 motorists were intercepted for speeding, 1,313 for drink/drug driving and 496 for offences related to other dangerous activities including not wearing a seatbelt and mobile phone use," he said.
These statistics are a grim reminder for the Alexandra Hill's mother who urged motorists to think about what they were doing before getting behind the wheel.
"My family and I still struggle - 11 years later, I'm watching Hayley's friends who are now making lives of their own, getting married and having children.
Because of someone's actions that night, I will never have this opportunity," she said.
