SCRAPYARD HIGHWAY
REGULAR Bruce Highway drivers will have noticed how the roadside landscape has changed over the last two years. Stolen cars left abandoned, their wheels removed, boots jemmied open, bonnets popped and windows smashed. Cars crashed into trees and light poles or on their sides. Some have been tipped onto their roof in order to make it easier to remove wheels, exhaust systems and “shockies”. We are seeing more and more that have been set alight. Some stay in the same place for months, others are removed relatively quickly. Nearly all are surrounded by police tape and have police stickers on display. In the Townsville Police District between Ingham and Ayr from January 31, 2017 to January 31, 2018 some 844 people were charged with car theft. This does not mean that 844 cars were stolen from this area. There could be three or four people in each car and each one of them might have faced charges relating to the theft of the vehicle. It is a sobering figure. Extrapolate it out statewide and it runs into the thousands of people charged. Last week, we took photos of cars burnt and abandoned alongside the highway between Bloomsbury south of Proserpine and Ingham. This is a 418km stretch of highway. There were 10 cars, one very 41km. Normally the count would have been double that, but some have been removed over recent weeks. When the police say to lock your car and hide your keys, they aren’t kidding. It’s a jungle out there.