Motorists urged to slow down after thousands clocked speeding in northern Gold Coast

A Gold Coast councillor has told motorists to slow down after a vehicle was found at almost three times the legal speed limit on a busy Oxenford Road.

A GOLD Coast councillor has told motorists to slow down after a vehicle was found at almost three times the legal speed limit on a busy Oxenford Road.

The vehicle was clocked a speed of 139km/h in a 50km/h zone on Old Pacific Highway.

The road runs parallel to the Pacific Motorway.

One car was recorded travelling three times over the legal limit of 50km/h.

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Traffic counters, consisting of two black cables, were placed across two different spots on the street to determine if a Speed Awareness Device, or smiley face signs, should be installed.

The counters do not record whether it is a car, motorbike or truck going over the cables, just the speed and how many cars use the road.

The smiley face signs alert drivers with a smiley face when they are going at or below speed limited and warned them to “slow down” if a driver was speeding.

Division 2 councillor William Owen-Jones said the data collected by Council showed about 2000 vehicles a day were detected speeding across both sites.

He took to Facebook to share the findings.

About 15 per cent of drivers using the road on a daily basis were above the speed limit, the counters found.

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85 per cent of motorists were found driving at the 50km/h speed limit or less.

The highest speed recorded in the 50km/h zone was 139km/h and another vehicle was captured travelling at 116km/h in the 60km/h zone.

“Clearly most do the right thing, but there is also a very, very good reason the QPS are always there with their camera,” Cr Owen-Jones said in a post.

“What the data consistently shows is that over the three months they are installed drive behaviour in regards to speed changes.

“Speeding is everyone’s responsibility.

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A speed camera on the Gold Coast. Picture: Jerad Williams

“If something as simple as a smiley face helps change driver behaviour across the 3,000km+ local road network that’s a good thing.”

Smiley face signs are rotated through a number of different locations across the Gold Coast to remind drivers to slow down.

Cr Owen-Jones said data from council had shown after a few weeks in certain locations, drivers began to slow down.

It comes after a Varsity Lakes woman Megan Roots was demanding police and councillors to do something about hoons.

Mrs Roots has two cars land in her front yard on the corner of Silvabank Road and Cumberland in just over a week.

Contact the Queensland Police hoon hotline number on 134666 to report any incidents.