REDLAND City deputy mayor Lance Hewlett wants police to patrol Victoria Point more often to stop hoons from using residential streets as racetracks.
He says he is fed up with ratepayers having to foot the bill for road calming measures – like speed bumps – to stop dangerous driving.
Cr Hewlett, who met with Robin Parade residents after a station wagon crashed into bollards last week, said tougher penalties were also needed to keep repeat offenders off the roads.
“I believe if there was a more visible presence of police patrolling the Victoria Point area, the incidence of hooning and other social crimes would definitely decrease,” he said.
“I think the feeling with many in the community is the punishment is not harsh enough and the offenders know they’ll get off with a slap on the wrist.”
Mr Hewlett said Robin Parade residents had told him the grey-coloured station wagon was being fishtailed about 11pm on Tuesday, November 6 when it crashed.
He said residents often reported hoons for speeding and driving dangerously but never received feedback about their complaints from police.
A Queensland Police Service spokesperson refuted Robin Parade hooning allegations, telling Redland City Bulletin the car’s driver had swerved to miss a large bird before losing control of the vehicle.
“The incident referred to below was a traffic crash and not a hooning incident,” the spokesperson said.
“The driver had swerved to miss a large bird, oversteered and lost control of the vehicle. The driver was issued two traffic infringement notices.”
Residents wanted council to install traffic calming measures – like speed bumps and islands – to slow traffic.
Cr Hewlett agreed something should be done but said ratepayers should not have to foot the bill.
Instead, the state government needed to bolster police resources, he said.
“The local police are doing their very best with the resources they have,” Cr Hewlett said.
“In my opinion, the state government needs to invest more resources in supporting police.
“From memory, the raised intersection platforms, which are bus friendly on Sycamore Parade, in addition to changes to line marking and signage was approximately $65,000 in total.”
The Queensland Police Service spokesperson said Cleveland police had been targeting traffic related offences as part of Operation Quebec Crontab.
The spokesperson did not respond to questions about numbers of people caught hooning and what streets in the Cleveland division, which covers Victoria Point, were being targeted.
