Fourth rock-throwing incident on Southern Expressway in two weeks

MORE motorists have reported lucky escapes after a person was spotted throwing rocks at cars on the Southern Expressway overnight — as Labor unveils how it would tackle the spate of attacks.

The Flaxmill Road bridge along the Southern Expressway. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

• JUNE: Christie Downs: Rock thrown at car again
• MAY: Mother and toddler in near miss
• APRIL: Rocks thrown in Southern Expressway near miss
• MARCH: Cars damaged by rocks thrown on Southern Expressway
• FEBRUARY: Rocks, bottle thrown at cars on Southern Expressway

ANOTHER rock was thrown onto the Southern Expressway — the fourth incident in two weeks — but fortunately no cars were hit.

Police received a report from a man driving south along the expressway who saw an arm movement and a rock hurled near Flaxmill Rd bridge in Christie Downs just before 11.30pm.

The rock reportedly bounced on the road but missed the car.

No one was hurt.

Police deployed a helicopter to search the area but did not find anyone hiding in nearby bushes.

Officers monitored the expressway through the night.

INTERACTIVE MAP: Southern Expressway incidents

The latest incident marked the 11th rockthrowing event since January.

Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas has released a six-point plan to tackle the spate of rock throwing, including allowing police to dispatch protective security officers, which he says must be immediately adopted by the State Government.

Mr Malinauskas said the issue was now an epidemic on the Southern Expressway, and reiterated a call for a $50,000 reward for information.

He said penalties for rock throwing should be doubled to a maximum 10 years and called for the removal of vegetation in the area, temporary cyclone fencing at vulnerable areas like overpasses and high-powered lighting in dim locations.

Mr Malinauskas, a former police minister, said declaring the area a protective security area would unlock more resources for the force to battle to outbreak.

“These immediate measures can be implemented in concert with medium and longer-term solutions such as the installation of CCTV cameras,” he said.

Mr Malinauskas said protective security officers, who patrol other sensitive sites like Parliament House and the State Administration Centre, had significant stop and search powers which could aid the wider police response.

He said Police Minister Corey Wingard must give the operational force the option to use protective security officers should it decide they were required.

Last month, Transport Minister Stephan Knoll told Parliament the Government was upgrading CCTV, installing mesh over loose stones, erecting fencing to keep people from dangerous areas and moving to design throw screens.

“This is not a new problem,” he said. “We now have a comprehensive solution that addresses this longstanding problem and hopefully these measures will go a long way to stamping out this reckless, dangerous behaviour.”

Flinders University Centre for Crime Policy and Research director Professor Andrew Goldsmith said the spike in these incidents may be copycats.

“The people behind these incidents would be young people or adolescents who are unsupervised in the evening … who are two or three in a group or (acting) alone,” he said.

“Another factor is the media broadcasting these incidents would prompt copycats to do something similar.”

He said using fine mesh screens or covered overpasses would help reduce rock throwing but it would be “hard to predict” when the attacks would stop.

“These things have cycles, people copy (rock throwing) for a while, police ramp up and things quiet down so I hope this is the case,” he said.

Rocks flung or dropped from footpaths and overpasses along the expressway had damaged vehicles and nearly caused injury to motorists.

Last month, Lauren Mangelsdorf and her two-year-old son Lachlan were driving near the Moore Rd overpass at Reynella when it was struck by a rock thrown from the side of the expressway.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Sunday likened the dangerous act to starting a bushfire.