Hoon 4WDs pose ‘real risk’ of beach driving ban for Goolwa, Alexandrina Council mayor Keith Parks says

People must be stopped from illegally driving into the Goolwa Beach sand dunes, the local mayor says – or cars could be banned completely from the beach.

Driving on to Goolwa Beach might be banned altogether, the local mayor says, if authorities cannot prevent hoons from risking damage to the environment and cultural sites.

Alexandrina Council Mayor Keith Parkes said there were regular issues with people in 4WDs illegally venturing into Goolwa Beach’s sensitive sand dunes area.

“We don’t want it to get to the stage where we’re forced to ban 4WDs from the beach,” he said.

Mr Parkes said people driving into the dunes was a “serious problem”, despite signage and barriers.

“Apart from the environmental sensitivity of the area, it’s got huge significance to the Ngarrindjeri people,” he said.

“There are middens and burial sites through there. If people don’t stop doing it, we’re going to get pressure to stop people going down there.”

Mr Parkes stressed he was not in favour of a government-imposed beach driving ban, which he labelled a “real risk”, because it was a popular pastime for families.

“The way to fix it is to start hitting people with fines,” he said.

Cars trying to get on to the beach at Goolwa last summer. Picture: Josh Koop

“It’s a minority of people that are doing the wrong thing but when you’ve got several hundred vehicles on the beach, a minority is still a big number.”

The state government is considering ways to better manage vehicle access to beaches, last month holding a workshop on the topic with stakeholders.

Environment Minister David Speirs believed “structured access” was needed so drivers could get on to some beaches “in an appropriate way” and “not at all in others”.

He said allowing widespread vehicle access to beaches “never sat with me particularly well” because of the environmental challenges it presented.

A traffic jam at Goolwa Beach after a 4WD got bogged. Picture: David Cronin

Mr Speirs said being able to drive on to the sand on the state’s beaches meant a lot to South Australians and would likely continue “in some form well into the future”.

Alexandrina Council is also lobbying the state government for a 40km/h speed limit on Goolwa Beach, compared with the current 100km/h limit that Mr Parkes described as “crazy”.

Concerns about safety issues have heightened as more people explore the state’s natural attractions.

Four Wheel Drive SA president Greg Chase said Goolwa Beach’s speed limit was “a real serious issue that has to be addressed”.

During recent trips to the area he saw little evidence of people driving illegally in the dunes. However, he said more policing could help.

Mr Parkes said problems were also caused when people in vehicles other than 4WDs tried to access the beach and became bogged.

He said this happened at the weekend, resulting in a line of vehicles almost 3km long waiting to get on to the ramp.

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