Residents plead for lower speed limits to protect local wildlife

RESIDENTS of a Gold Coast suburb are calling for speed limits to be dropped and traffic calming measures introduced to protect local wildlife.

Locals living in the Elanora Ridge area were distraught this week when a koala named Scotty – who was hit by a car on Calcita Ave off Simpsons Rd on January 6 – died from his injuries at Currumbin Wildlife Hospital.

They are now calling for urgent changes to local roads to help prevent more wildlife from meeting the same fate.

“There’s been quite an outpouring of grief and anger and concern, it’s quite extraordinary,” resident Lancia Jordana said.

“Unfortunately our area is the scene of quite a few wildlife killings. There was a golden wallaby taken out there six months ago in exactly the same place.

“Something needs to be done.” An online poll in a local community group showed strong support for reducing speed limits in the area. Ms Jordana said the use of traffic calming measures and fencing should also be considered.

“This species (koalas) is already on the brink of existence,” she said. “They’re talking about koalas being extinct in NSW by 2050. We could be heading for the same issue here unless governments and council get serious about this.

“If we’re going to be welcoming the world for the Olympic Games in 10 years we need to get serious about this and have a plan for what’s going on here on the Gold Coast.

“We’ve talked about chicanes as an option, we’ve talked about reducing the speed limit to 40 or 50km/h. Speed reduction is a big issue here. Too many people are speeding.”

Local councillor Gail O’neill said she had received a number of complaints about speeding on Simpsons Rd and council was assessing the possibility of reducing the limit, which is currently set at 60km/h. She appealed to motorists to slow down in the meantime.

“We seem to be lowering speed limits in a lot of suburban streets these days but we don’t seem to be having a lot of luck with people slowing down,” Ms O’neill said.

“Simpsons Rd is being assessed at the moment. It’s just a shame that motorists aren’t taking more care, especially in areas where there is a lot of signage already, that they know there is wildlife.

“There’s no one answer that’s going to solve this.”