Gold Coast roads: Wildlife, koalas, victims of ignorant drivers

Humans are not the only victims of ignorant drivers on the Gold Coast, as a shocking incident last week revealed, writes Keith Woods.

IT’S a story that will make wildlife lovers despair.

Jeanette Niebling was driving home with children Harrison and Lucy last Tuesday evening.

As she drove down Discovery Drive in Helensvale, she noticed something many locals will be familiar with. A koala on the road.

“We were going north and then it went to the median strip and we thought, ‘well no one’s going to see it on the other side’, so we did a U-turn and came back and parked,” Jeanette said.

“We came over to the median strip so then we could stop the cars on the other side.

“She went to climb the tree and then stopped, and she was just spooked by all the cars and everything going on and then she turned from that tree to come back across the road.

“I was at the tree and there was another lady on the side of the road and we were both shouting at the oncoming traffic, waving and carrying on, trying to stop the traffic.

“That’s when she crossed over and the car that came past collected her on the way.”

That wasn’t all. Not only did the driver fail to heed Jeanette and the other lady trying to get him to slow down, the accident took place right beside a council “koala zone” sign.

“It was pretty awful, very awful,” Jeanette said.

“It was right next to the koala sign, the double koala sign. There are two signs there, not just one.

“We screamed. It was a pretty big hit. I grabbed a towel that I had and picked the koala up and carried her up on to the grass, away from the road.

“She was moving, she was pretty feisty but her back legs were injured, she couldn’t push with her back legs.”

Jeanette Niebling with her children Harrison, 12, and Lucy, 10, at the spot in Helensvale where they witnessed a young koala being hit by a car. Picture: Keith Woods.

Thankfully the koala, a juvenile which Jeanette’s daughter Lucy named Jessica, survived the incident.

A Wildcare volunteer was at the scene within 15 minutes and took Jessica to Currumbin Wildlife Hospital, where she continues to recuperate from a leg injury.

“They (Wildcare) were awesome, they were so good,” Jeanette said.

Many koalas on the Gold Coast are not so lucky.

Only three weeks earlier, locals found a koala dead on the side of the road, just a little further down Discovery Dr – at another spot with multiple warning signs.

Currumbin Wildlife Hospital is swamped.

Last year they admitted almost 600 koalas. In 2008, that number was 27.

That despite millions being spent on warning signs and speed cameras such as those erected by council at the spot where the young koala was hit last week.

It’s hard to know what more we can do.

Warning signs have proven to be ineffective – as was so sadly proven again last week. A four-year study of such signs by Redlands council showed only a marginal reduction in vehicle speeds and koalas being hit.

Here on the Gold Coast, Division 5 councillor Peter Young has been actively pushing for a better solution.

Cr Young pushed for a study into the possibility of installing “virtual fencing”, which involves devices that make a noise to scare off wildlife when set off by the headlights of vehicles.

“A thorough research assessment was undertaken by council staff who contacted councils across the nation who had trialled or implemented these fences,” Cr Young said.

“Unfortunately, the actual evidence was very disappointing, with virtually no beneficial effect noticed.”

Late last year, at Cr Young’s prompting, council decided to undertake a wider study assessing animal strikes on roads across the city and recommending measures to stop them, including fences and underpasses.

The report is due to be presented to council in February.

In the meantime, we are left to trust drivers to behave appropriately.

Too many still don’t, making wildlife lovers despair.

Follow @keithjwoods