Council sign at Paradise Point causes confusion among locals

A sign on a footpath has left everyone confused – with many surprised by what it leaves out as much as what it includes.

A council sign supposed to provide clarity to residents using a popular Gold Coast walkway has instead left many scratching their heads.

The sign, which has been painted on the path at the Paradise Point Esplanade near Ephraim Island Bridge, features five symbols depicting permitted users.

Among them were pedestrians, children, wheelchair users, cyclists and electric scooter riders.

The sign painted by council on pathway at Paradise Point Esplanade which has caused confusion for locals. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

However it has caused confusion among locals, with comments on a post to the Paradise Point Community Page on Facebook noting that there were some notable omissions.

“A complete waste of ratepayers dollars. Who comes up with this codswallop,” one person said. “To boot a very large number of users are walking dogs – are they banned?”

Others decried the sign as “unnecessarily ugly’ and the product of a “nanny state”.

Local man Peter Sprague, who uses a mobility scooter while walking dog Sally along the Esplanade, said he was unsure what message the sign was attempting to convey.

“I can’t make anything out of it. All I know is there’s no mobility scooter or dog on it,” he said.

Peter Sprague and Sally the dog wonder what it all means for them. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

Division 4 councillor Shelley Curtis said the sign did not mean dog walkers were not welcome on the path.

“We can’t accommodate every possible iteration of pedestrian thoroughfare, but I would safely say you’re welcome to walk your dog, as long as it’s on a lead and you have effective control – more than welcome,” she said.

Division 4 councillor Shelley Curtis. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

Ms Curtis said the sign had been put in place by council to provide clarity about users who were allowed to use the footpath amid calls in the community for riders of electric scooters to be banned.

“It’s an outcome of a shared pathway safety review that the City initiated towards the end of last year,” she said.

“Some of the findings were that they wanted to expand the trial of that painted signage that exists elsewhere, at Broadbeach and Surfers Paradise. It’s an expansion of that trial.

“ ... I have a lot of people asking me like, oh scooters shouldn’t be allowed.

“It’s a shared footpath and state legislation says they (scooter riders) are allowed to be on there.

“I don’t see any harm in having that clarified, because it gives those people who are rightfully using the footpath the opportunity to say well, I’m allowed to be here, and that’s probably important given the friction in the community between all the different types of users we now have.”

It’s not the first time council has been accused of putting in signage that causes more confusion than anything else.

In 2018 Paradise Island residents were left bemused after ‘3P’ and ‘2P’ parking signs were erected beside each other.

Bureaucrats were also last year criticised in a viral TikTok video for parking signs that showed two time periods – 9am to 12 noon, and 12 noon to 10pm – inexplicably separated by a line.

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