WILDLIFE carers have expressed dismay at the installation of new barriers with rubrails on Tamborine Mountain Road.
The barriers, which have a wide strip of metal running along the bottom almost down to the ground, are designed to provide greater safety for motorcyclists.
However, this prevents wildlife getting through and results in them being trapped on the road.
Already, it has cost the life of an echidna, found dead on Sunday September 14 in the centre of the section of road with the rubrails.
The Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) said the guardrail was part of the Safer Roads Sooner project, between Brahman Road and Cedar Creek Falls Road, to improve safety for road users including motorbike riders due to a high number of crashes over the last 20 years involving motorbikes.
“TMR’s Road Safety Policy requires that all new installations of guardrail are fitted with motorcycle injury countermeasures such as rubrail, which is designed to protect motorbike riders from sliding in between the guardrail beam and the ground in the event of run-off road crashes,” the spokesperson said.
TMR data showed 215 crashes occurred between 2001 and 2023 on Tamborine Mountain Road, 67 involved motorcyclists and 35 of those occurred on curves.
“When installing new guardrail, TMR considers the potential impact of the barrier on fauna moving across the road and gaps are incorporated into the guardrail where it is safe to do so, and where there is a higher likelihood of fauna moving through an area.”
However, on the over 300 metres of guardrail installed only one gap has been provided for wildlife.
“This is the only suitable location for a gap to ensure safety of motorbike riders and allow fauna movement,” the spokesperson said.
TMR said an additional 100 metres of guardrail is still to be installed in the coming weeks.
In 2020 wildlife rescuers campaigned against the rubrail barriers on the Beaudesert-Nerang Road, which resulted in the rubrails being removed altogether.
Tamborine Mountain Wildcare rescuer Heidi Cruschieri said unfortunately, wildlife are the last things to be considered.
“It definitely made things harder for wildlife movement in Canungra,” she said.
Member of the koala research group at Currumbin Wildlife Hospital and wildlife carer Joanne Brierley said they had met with TMR environmental officers about the barriers put up Tallebudgera Road connection road recently, which initially had no gaps.
“The ecologist said the gaps needed to be no further than 10 metres apart,” Joanne said.
“They installed them this year with gaps 30 metres apart. It’s not enough.
“When you are a small echidna it’s a long way. They and koalas aren’t that smart and will just sit on the road.
“My bone about it is they should be focusing on rider behaviour. The motorbikes don’t do the speed limits. If they stuck to them, they wouldn’t need the rails.”
Dr Kylie Soanes, a research fellow at the University of Melbourne specialising in urban and road ecology, said governments rarely consider the impacts these barriers have on wildlife.
“It’s something people notice a lot and can be distressing, but we don’t have a lot of research around it,” she said.
“It very rarely stops animals coming onto the road. They will enter the road further up where there is no barrier and find themselves trapped.
“We get a situation where cars are coming down fast and there is no chance of animals escaping.”
She said there were simple solutions which would still provide protection for motorists while protecting animals.
“There are ways of putting gaps in the fences, called jump out zones in set intervals, often used in the United States and Europe,” Dr Soanes said.
“It’s a really simple solution to have these little exit zones.
“The height and location of the barriers can also be considered to make sure animals have an escape route.”
She said having animals trapped inside the barriers potentially put motorists more at risk if they have to dodge them.
Dr Soanes said an inquiry was recently held in Victoria into the wildlife road strike problem and ways to make roads safer for wildlife.
“There are ways you can have gaps allowing wildlife to get back like a valve,” she said.
“There is a way to have barriers that keep people safe and wildlife safe; these really risky situations just don’t need to happen.”
