By Abbey Cannan
Tyre shops in the Noosa area have been flat out fixing punctured tyres, with at least 10 people a day needing assistance.
Bob Jane T-Marts Noosaville franchisee Graham Greenwood said there were two reasons why they had more tyres to fix than usual.
“What’s happened is our weeks have been condensed over the holiday period and people still get those punctures regardless of whether it’s a work day or not. So all of a sudden we’ve got 60 punctures from six days work being condensed into four or three days,“ Graham said.
“We stand around doing puncture repairs all day long and it’s not just Bob Jane getting punctures, it’s all the tyre shops in the area. So there is a lot of them at the moment.“
Graham said they also got a lot more punctures after heavy rain.
“The rain seems to wash nails and screws onto the road or they get washed out of tradies’ utes as they’re driving along,“ he said.
Graham said they got just as many punctures from husbands leaving screws around at home as they would from tradies leaving stuff on the road.
“There has been situations, such as at the Gold Coast recently, where a whole box of screws fell off the back of a tradie’s ute and I think there was about 30 or 40 vehicles with damaged tyres.“
Graham said unfortunately, no one was immune from this occurring.
“I’ve had both my rear tyre’s punctured on the same day, just through sheer bad luck,“ he said.
“But if people keep their tyre pressures higher, they are less likely to have punctures.“
He said the average cost to repair a punctured tyre was between $35 and $40.
“However, high performance tyres on prestige cars can run up to $70.“
Noosa police Sergeant Neil Ashley said despite the high amount of tyre punctures in Noosa, they hadn’t received any reports in regards to the matter.
“Clearly it’s an offence not to secure your load,“ he said.
“There is a problem with having injurious material on the road which can be dangerous for cyclists and motor users.“
Under the “insecure or overhanging load“ section of the road rules the Queensland Police Service confirms there could be a maximum penalty of 20 units, up to, $2200 or an instant $256 ticket fine.
“People with utilities and trailers, if you’ve got loose items in those areas and you have a traffic accident then those items can become projectiles which can cause serious injury to people,“ Sgt Ashley said.
“Another issue is you may be driving along and items fall out, which can cause danger to other road users or pedestrians. We’ve had instances where things have jumped out of trailers when someone has hit a pothole then those things can pose a risk to someone who might be around that vehicle.
“We’ve also had things like paint come out of cars and people run over the paint causing a lot of damage to vehicles. Not to mention, you’ve got other things like oil that can cause slippery conditions for motorists and can create a dangerous situation.
“For these reasons, it’s important to ensure your load is properly secured in your vehicle.“
Noosa Council Acting Infrastructure Services Director, Bryan O’Connor said many of the busier Council roads in the shire are swept either weekly or fortnightly.
“If there are any concerns about nails being deliberately dropped on local roads then this matter should be referred to Queensland Police for investigation,“ Bryan said.
