A new road safety campaign involving wheelie bins and life-sized child stickers seeks to make Brisbane's suburban streets safer.

The "life-saving" stickers shaped to look like a child about to run out on the road have been placed on bins in the inner-city suburb of Paddington in an effort to encourage motorists to slow down.

Russell White, the chief executive of the Australian Road Safety Foundation (ARSF), said the stickers had a real visual impact.

"When we look at road safety generally, we look at figures and numbers," he said.

"But what we often overlook is the human face behind that.

"The stickers put the human element to the potential situations we can find on the roads we travel each day.

"It's the streets around our suburban areas which we are the most familiar with and often the most complacent with."

Life-sized stickers on wheelie bins are set to remind motorists to slow down. ( 612 ABC Brisbane: Terri Begley )

According to research by the Bureau of Infrastructure and Regional Development, Queensland road fatalities rose from 223 in 2014 to 242 in 2016.

Statistics show accidents are most likely to occur on weekdays, during daylight hours, when children are most likely to be crossing roads.

Mr White said the new campaign had drawn widespread praise from around the country.

"The moment I saw the drawings, it resonated with me," he said.

"We need to educate people to pick their eyes up and look further down the road and to be scanning the side of the road more."

Mr White said there was little concern that the stickers would be distracting to drivers.

"Our view was that it's a weekly thing [when people put their bins out] so they won't be out all the time," he said.