A little boy has been struck and killed by a car in regional Queensland, following ten deaths on the state’s roads in one catastrophic week.

May 30, 2019

A one-year-old boy has been hit by a car and killed in regional Queensland, the 11th victim of a car accident in a horror week that’s claimed the lives of six children.

The toddler was hit by a reversing car near the entrance to the old Chinchilla sawmill on Edward St, which is being redeveloped into an industrial site.

Paramedics pronounced the child dead at the scene and said a 71-year-old man driving the vehicle was taken to hospital suffering “emotional distress”. 

Ten other people have been killed on Queensland’s roads this week in a horror streak before an annual safety initiative, Fatality Free Friday.

The boy was hit about 10.45 am, after which paramedics were called to the truck-filled dirt road industrial lot, northwest of Toowoomba, with reports of a vehicle and pedestrian crash.

A family friend, who preferred not to be identified, told AAP the family was “utterly devastated”.

Police Superintendent Dave Johnson says the fatalities are absolutely tragic and they must stop.

“There’s no reason to lose that many lives on our roads at any time period. There’s no excuses for it, there’s no reason for it,” Supt Johnson said.

“We want it to stop right now.”

This latest death comes after a 14-year-old boy died in a crash in a stolen car on Wednesday and four children lost their lives in a crash with their mum on Monday.

A 14-year-old was allegedly at the wheel of the stolen car that crashed on Brisbane’s bayside, killing the boy in the front passenger seat and injuring four girls, the youngest just 10.

The car allegedly ran a red light, hit another car and wound up wrapped around a pole at Rothwell on Wednesday afternoon, police said.

The teenage driver sustained critical injuries but was stable in the Queensland Children’s Hospital on Thursday.

A mother, 26, and her four children who were in the second car, escaped serious injury.

Supt Johnson said on Thursday he was concerned about underage drivers and people overloading cars.

“It’s telling us the choices that drivers make behind the wheel are not the smartest choices,” Supt Johnson said.

“The decisions they are taking at times are putting their lives and the lives of others at risk.” 

On Tuesday, a 20-year-old man died in Bundaberg when he lost control of his Ford Falcon and the sedan hit a tree.

On Wednesday night, an 86-year-old man died at Lake Eacham in Queensland’s far north when his car hit an oncoming truck.

It followed the death of Glenmorgan man, 78, who swerved to avoid a kangaroo on a remote stretch of road and slammed into a tree on Tuesday morning.

The worst of the crashes happened south of Kingaroy on Monday, when mother Charmaine Harris McLeod, 35, and her children Aaleyn, 6, Matilda, 5, Wyatt, 4, and Zaidok, 2, died when their car hit an oncoming truck.

Their deaths were followed by another fatal accident involving a truck in the same area on Wednesday, when a 62-year-old man driving a ute collided with a prime mover.