BUGGY BLITZ
Cops deploy souped-up quad bikes to nab golf cart hoons
GOLD COAST police driving modified quad bikes have launched a crackdown on dodgy golf cart drivers.
Cops last week pinged buggy hoons for driving while disqualified, drink driving, using their mobile phone while driving and being found in possession of drugs.
POLICE are going off-road in hotted up all-terrain vehicles to chase down drunk or unlicensed golf buggy drivers in affluent gated estates.
In a change to traditional patrols, cops are using the modified quad bikes to nab illegal drivers as they travel on pathways between their luxury homes, shops and pubs.
The ATV vehicles were pitted against golf buggy drivers for the first time at Hope Island last week – and more will be considered around other wealthy gated communities.
Last Thursday’s six-hour sting between the Marina Shopping Village and the gated Links Hope Island resort netted at least five infringement notices, including driving while disqualified, unlicensed and unregistered, drink driving, in possession of drugs, and mobile phone usage.
Senior Constable Alan Wilkie said the bikes could access areas police cars couldn’t.
“We’ve had numerous complaints of juveniles driving unlicensed,” Senior-Cnst Wilkie said, adding teenagers under the age of 16 had been found driving the golf buggies.
“Part of the conditions of the buggy pathway is that people have to be licensed, conditionally registered and under the legal alcohol limit.
“People are supposed to carry permits between the two resorts.”
He said police regularly found drivers intoxicated and learner drivers unaccompanied.
The Gold Coast district has 10 ATVs and special police requests are needed to conduct the patrols.
Broadwater police requested the ATVs last week after complaints about underage, unlicensed and intoxicated golf buggy driving.
A Queensland Police spokesperson said: “The QPS currently uses these to address community issues which have previously proven difficult to patrol with normal police vehicles.
“They are not necessarily used primarily in gated communities but are used in pathways linking these communities to other facilities such as shops, carparks and roadways when targeting gold buggies, motorbikes and other road users.”
THEY’RE ELECTRIC AND QUIET AND THEY’RE GOING FLAT-CHAT DOWN THESE PATHWAYS. SO SOME LAW ENFORCEMENT IS A GOOD THING. RUSSELL HORNBY
Senior-Cnst Wilkie said people had to understand that a golf buggy was classed as a motor vehicle and the same rules applied.
He said police could hold similar operations in the Hope Island and Sanctuary Cove areas.
“They’re electric and quiet and they’re going flat-chat down these pathways,” Hope Island resident Russell Hornby said.
“So some law enforcement is a good thing as I do see them belting up and down roads on Saturday night. I have no complaints ... it’s an accident waiting to happen.”
The crackdown comes less than a year after a 21year-old man died after falling from a buggy on a resort pathway.
Police confirmed alcohol was not a factor in this crash.
The Broadwalk Tavern provides a shuttle bus on Friday and Saturday nights for patrons while the Intercontinental Sanctuary Cove Resort provides a concierge service to hotel guests to and from Sanctuary Cove.
Staff at the Links Hope Island Golf Course declined to comment.