Getting yellow line for no-parking area is not black and white, even for police

It took over 12 months and a lot of red tape for the thin blue line to finally get a short yellow line.

The site for the yellow no-parking line outside the North Rockhampton Police Station.

It took over 12 months and a lot of red tape for the thin blue line to finally get a short yellow line.

On March 14, 2024, the Officer in Charge of North Rockhampton Police Station made a request for a no-parking area to be marked with a yellow line on either side of the North Rockhampton Police Station driveway to assist officers in exiting safely, particularly during emergency call outs.

Just over a year later, the matter arrived at Rockhampton Regional Council’s Infrastructure Committee meeting where Mayor Tony Williams quickly decided to cut though the technical rulings that had played a role in delaying the approval.

He said he understood the officers’ reasoning for only agreeing to paint one side of the driveway but there was an overriding need to support an important public service.

“It’s coming from the police and I think they take a priority in this instance,” he said.

“I get the officers (argument) with their technical views on it but let’s just do both sides (of the driveway) and make it as safe as possible for that operation.”

Traffic congestion at peak school times on Robinson Street often causes delays for North Rockhampton police vehicles driving to an incident.

A council report shows the matter was originally tasked to Infrastructure Planning on April 2, 2024 where officers undertook a site inspection and determined that the site did not meet the requirements for yellow lines.

Officers last comments on the matter were on April 30, 2024 when council officers attempted to contact “the customer” several times but to “no avail”.

Cr Shane Latcham asked for an update in November 2024 and the matter was reopened with further site visits.

The station’s Officer in Charge advised council that police had resorted to using the patrol car sirens to exit the driveway as a warning to other motorists, a method that caused disturbance issues for a nearby childcare centre. Police also informed council there had been a lot of near misses with other vehicles.

“The Officer in Charge has indicated that during school hours congestion often causes delays for police vehicles driving to an incident,” the council officer’s report said.

“He (OIC) is looking to reduce officers’ response times as much as possible and considers that the prohibition of parking will aid response times. “

Council officers ultimately agreed to paint just one side of the driveway but found “any benefit would be marginal” as vehicles were still required to give way to pedestrians and cyclists travelling along the footpath.

But Cr Latcham argued at this week’s council meeting that both sides should be painted and the mayor and other councillors quickly agreed with Cr Grant Mathers saying it was a “no-brainer”.

“Queensland police are first responders and a major stakeholder within our community,” he said.

“I’m just not quite sure why this has had to take 12 months to happen and why it’s had to come to this extent to get some yellow lines when we’ve got first responders there saying they are having trouble leaving to go to accidents and emergencies.”

Cr Williams told other councillors not to waste any more time on the issue and the request was approved.