In 2022, seventeen people have lost their lives on Sunshine Coast roads - more than double the number recorded last year.
Two people have died in the past week in crashes on the coast, including the respected basketball coach Dale Ryan.
Sunshine Coast police district officer Superintendent Craig Hawkins said the rising road toll was causing an enormous amount of concern This time last year, we were sitting at eight deaths, Superintendent Hawkins said.
He said there were five people the year before.
He said that it's not the person who passed, but a broad range of friends and families who are affected by this.
As of Wednesday morning, the number of deaths on Queensland roads stood at 155, compared to 137 for the same time last year.
There were 17 deaths on the Sunshine Coast this year, and 10 were single car crashes, according to Superintendent Hawkins.
He said that the behaviour of our drivers has changed, and that is a sign that that is very clear.
The behaviours are leading to serious accidents that are causing the deaths.
I suspect that our policing attention has been diverted to other areas over the COVID period, and now we're starting to see a consequence of that. Levi Anderson, a road safety researcher at the Sunshine Coast, said the pandemic period had a lasting impact.
Since the beginning of COVID when we first announced that we were stopping doing RBTs, we have seen an increase in drunk driving, Mr Anderson said.
The police officers who are dedicated to road safety haven't been out policing other types of things like speeding, seatbelts. More officers were back on patrol with state and international borders lifted and hotel quarantine scrapped.
A well-known and respected basketball coach Dale Ryan died on Friday night in Doonan.
Daisy, affectionately known as Ryan, worked for decades at various clubs across south-east Queensland, including the Brisbane Bullets and most recently, the Sunshine Coast Phoenix.
Phoenix club president Victor Benjamin said his members were in shock and rallying behind his wife Rachel and their two daughters.
He had a big heart, he said.
Ryan played a pivotal role in the 2007 record season of the Brisbane Bullets, while he was the team's assistant coach.
Sam Mackinnon, the general manager of the Brisbane Bullets, said he was lucky to be involved with Daisy that season.
Mr Mackinnon said that Daisy was a genuine good guy who not only cared about the game, but about you as a person and how you were going.
The increasing number of fatal and serious crashes was having an impact on his staff and the wider community, according to Mike Clayton, a Sunshine Coast-based tow truck driver.
He said one of his drivers recently provided CPR to a young child at a crash scene.
The vehicles are brought back to our holding facilities for investigations, and are brought back to our holding facilities, he said.
He noted the impact on emergency responders, and said that his organisation was just a small part of the process.
He said that when you get people at the scene who are witnessing it, you've got people at the scene.
One fatality for a friend can affect hundreds or more people. Superintendent Hawkins said the police would be ramping up their enforcement efforts to try to prevent further deaths.
It comes back to the person sitting behind the wheel, according to Superintendent Hawkins.