Hoons put drivers at risk, Smith St Mwy and M1

A veteran bus driver has detailed the astonishing sights she has encountered on Gold Coast roads, saying the wild behaviour is the worst she has seen in 30 years.

A veteran tour bus driver has issued a grave warning for the city’s hoons after a near deadly experience.

Sonya Underdahl has driven tour buses as a Japanese-speaking driver guide in locations across Australia and New Zealand for more than 30 years and said she had never seen anything like the wild behaviour she’s encountered on Gold Coast roads.

In a recent dramatic encounter, Ms Underdahl was returning from Tamborine Mountain with a busload of tourists on Thursday night when two cars were both paused on the road getting ready to race each other. They were blocking a section of Smith St at about 9.30pm.

“It was that very upper part of Smith St where the visibility isn’t great,” she said.

“I was decelerating and I went from 80km to 60km and they didn’t take off. I had less than 10 seconds to respond with a vehicle that requires significant time to stop.”

The cars remained completely stationary, forcing the driver to perform a fast thinking manoeuvre.

.Japanese Driver Guide Sonya Underdahl concerned about Hoons actions putting others in danger on Gold Coast roads. Picture: Glenn Hampson

“I had all systems go just trying to get her (the bus) to stop because she’s heavy – she cannot stop on a dime no matter what kind of magic you think you can pull,” she said.

“You could hear the brakes, the exhaust, you could see the gears going down and pulling right back as I was coming closer towards a collision, then one of the drivers decided to do a big fishtail which takes time – you’d be better off just speeding off.”

One passenger allegedly “faceplanted” into a seat because of the impact and phones went “flying”.

But Ms Underdahl says this isn’t the first hooning incident she’s come across – claiming every three months she bares witness to another potentially deadly scenario.

“We’ve had them where they’ve been around blind corners returning from Natural Bridge – we’ve turned around and they’ve blocked off both sides of the road,” she said.

“We had to brake so hard that we had guides including myself end up in the windscreen.”

Cars race on Gold Coast road

The driver said in those situations there’s nowhere to go – it’s either off the edge or over the cars.

“I get a lot of hoons because I travel up Tamborine at night – we’ve had nights where we’ve had over 50 cars going up and they race past us on winding roads,” she said.

Ms Underdahl said on many occasions she’s seen two to four cars block off the M1.

The cars allegedly block off all lanes slowing traffic right back to make a large section of road for them to take off and race.

She claimed on one occasion traffic was banked up for roughly 1km.

“I’m extremely frustrated and fed up with the hoons,” she said.

“Most people are fed up with it – Gold Coasters have had enough and we are asking for accountability, we need cameras on the road or something done.

“I’m not criticising the police – they’re well stretched. They’re all youths, L-plates, P-plates, and they’re absolutely dangerous.”

Screenshots from videos showing hoons on the Gold Coast. Picture: Supplied

The veteran tourism operator said in her 30 years of driving, Gold Coast roads were the worst for hooning. She had a stern message for the dangerous drivers.

“There have been fatalities – there will be another one and it could be yours,” Ms Underdahl said.

“The bus will come out on top – I have a big bullbar and that bullbar will tear your car to pieces at speed.”