Acting Chief Superintendent Ray Rohweder has expressed exasperation after eight deaths on the state’s roads since Friday, putting the state on track for its worst death toll in decades.

The road policing veteran has pleaded with drivers to stop behaving like idiots, and end the carnage.

One motorist nabbed south of Brisbane on Monday morning, in the middle of a torrential downpour, left him gobsmacked.

“Just to highlight the stupidity of some people out there … this morning, at Beenleigh, police detected a driver travelling at 131km/h in a 70km/h zone in torrential rain,” he said.

“That is weaponising a motor vehicle as far as I’m concerned. A vehicle travelling at that speed – if it contacts another vehicle, someone is going to die.

“We can’t have people on our roads driving like that and expect police to be able to keep the rest of the community safe. It just can’t happen.”

He said investigations were continuing into crashes that have killed three drivers, four passengers and one motorcyclist since Friday. Others injured in those crashes remain in hospital in critical condition.

One of the worst involved a three-vehicle smash involving two utes and a car at Bracalba north of Brisbane on Sunday afternoon.

A 20-year-old man driving the car and a 22-year-old passenger died at the scene. The car was travelling in the opposite direction to the two utes on D’Aguilar Highway when they collided. Three men in the two utes were taken to hospital.

Supt Rohweder would not comment on whether unsafe overtaking was an issue in that crash, but said generally, frustration among too many drivers, was.

“If your frustration is such that you need to take some sort of action to ease your frustration, to get somewhere quicker, you shouldn’t have a licence,” he said.

“You should not be on the road. Pull to the side and let someone else drive because quite frankly you’re just being an idiot.”

In 2019, 219 people died on Queensland’s roads. That rose to 276 last year, despite coronavirus lockdowns keeping people at home. This year Supt Rohweder expects the figure could hit 300.

“Already we have 20 more lives lost, than at the same time last year. And last year was one of our worst years, in many, many years,” he told reporters.

He urged Queenslanders to have conversations with their loved ones about road safety.

“This is one of the darkest moments in road safety in Queensland in my 35 years as a sworn police officer. I just plead with the public to please think about what you are doing behind the wheel, respect other road users, and respect yourself.”