Penny Maguire

Alright, I don't think I will. Thank you. Alright, good morning everybody. I'm just going to jump right into it. Thank you. For opportunity the to voice the growing concerns regarding e-bikes and e-scooter safety. This is a follow-up from the notified motion from Councillor Jessica Phillips at the September Ordinary Meeting about the growing e-bike and e-scooter safety. Concerns in the community. I agree that the amendment was put forward by Councillor Stockwell about the education component and it is an essential part. I'm aware that Councillor Phillips' focus for the notified motion was on the legislation aspect but it is clear she is also keenly aware of the community engagement necessary to implement preventative strategies for safety awareness that was part of her role while serving as a police officer. Seems it a and practical. To employ the experience and the skill sets of our new Councillors to ensure the needs and the concerns of our community are met in the most effective way. At the local level it would be ideal. If there was a coordinated effort with the Council and the local police to send the same message and present a unified front to keep the kids and other road users safe. The technology seems to have gotten ahead of the safety protocols so there clearly needs to be an update to the safe road use education even for those who do not yet have driver's licenses so that potential accidents can be minimised and especially loss of life. So I'm very interested to know the Noosa Council's remit for the Go Noosa Program. This issue has come directly to my attention after an incident on the 15th of November between 3:30 and 3:45 on langura street opposite the gurrawin sports complex. A friend was hit and at speed by a kid on an e-bike. Two kids on e-bikes riding side by around the blind corner caused a t-bone collision, knocking the friend off his enough bike with force he was thrown onto the road and into the path of oncoming traffic. Luckily the driver coming around the corner was able to stop, avoiding running over the friend. Said the bikes were travelling at about 30 km /h on the pathway. He had no way to avoid the collision. Although the kid was apologetic and offered to pay for the damages, he kid took off by the way. He seems to have given a made phone number to the driver who avoided hitting the friend who got out to assist. She didn't think to ask for name or address. Although she kind of gave the friend a lift home as his bike was unrideable and he sustained several injuries. The other drivers who had to stop also got out of their cars and were very and vocally angry at witnessing the kid's reckless behaviour, asking what if he was in his 60s? Sixties. The kid, the friend is in his sixties. He's just fit and the bike helmet covered his grey hair. His lower back hit the corner of the kerb and his shoulder is still sore. He had a deep laceration on his leg and other grazes and bleeding wounds. You don't bounce so well as get older. His bike is still unrideable even after paying for some repairs the handling has been affected enough it is unsafe to ride. The bike will have to be replaced as it is the friends preferred mode of transport then I personally witnessed a kid on an e-scooter matching my speed in a 60 kilometre zone in the bike lane on Eumundi road in t-shirt shorts and thongs. Two kids turning out onto saltway drive Sunshine Beach from a side street now narrowly missing hit being by an oncoming bus the driver was quite alarmed and then proceeding to ride doing a wheel stand in the middle of the road in front of my car down to the traffic lights where he then used to bypass the intersection and also two kids doubling on a bike once again travelling at speed but the passenger beside behind the ride up was not wearing a helmet he then used the foot path to bypass I'm hearing of many other residents reporting similar stories I understand it's not easy to get the safety message to transfer to everyday life decisions with kids who find it hard to employ risk assessment especially I have to say it there's even the saying boys less drama than girls but harder to keep alive there's even t-shirts for mothers of boys although after many years of martial arts training I saw lots of kids successful implementing risk assessment sometimes it just comes down to attitude and being made aware of consequences besides the physical injury risk there's also nowadays a world of potential litigation out there that the younger ones are oblivious to I have seen some videos of police apprehending e-bike users in what has been dubbed operations if I was stopping it's good that they're doing what they can when they see it but clearly there needs to be some preventative education approach employed where if we are to avoid regrettable or tragic situations the police can't be everywhere at once we have lots of visitors many of whom are unfamiliar with the roads and roundabouts and may not be paying adequate attention to what the kids are doing on the roads. And e-bikes and scooters will have been popular Christmas presents so there will be more of them sharing the roads in the pathways perhaps we can use the existing road rule training for learner drivers for younger teenagers as early training for the kids who will be using the roads they will have to learn this before long anyway and it may avoid bad choices simply because without awareness of the road rules they are less likely to understand how the traffic flows if the kids are going to be encouraged this kind of transport say to and from school there has to be a duty of care to ensure not only are the kids staying safe but provide the framework to facilitate them doing it without incident or that someone will have to live the rest of their lives in the incident that somebody is actually killed that's trying to avoid that surely it's feasible to have some local police officers addressing the kids in school I believe they have a road safety talk in year five but maybe the older kids need refresher especially appropriate to e-bike and e-scooter use need a-scooter use they need to be made aware of consequences before the fact rather than after stuff gets real police and other responders do not want to turn up to an accident or have to tell the families of an accident victim that their loved one has been injured or worse but on the positive side increased police community engagement something that has of been this nature engagement will build rapport of this build nature rapport will with the local residents. Somewhat eroded over the last few years there somewhat eroded over the last few years there are other issues that also arise from the situation such as what happens when someone's hurt really badly who pays the medical bills what if they can't work because of the will parents of the child have to be sued in protracted court proceedings for compensation and take into account it's the only powered transport on the roads that doesn't require insurance or a license to prove compensation. Food to prove competent road use awareness. I get it it's a tricky situation requiring multiple angles of approach but it really does need attention. Thank you for your time and the platform to highlight the session.

Small amount of context after instant an incident in Noosa Junction early December last year, I emailed Mayor Frank Wilkie and Councillor Jess Phillips about an assault of two minors by a 35-year-old male outside establishment. The attacker deliberately goaded and pushed one of the boys out of the establishment's camera range. When the other boy attempted to calm everybody down, he was punched in the mouth, he may yet lose four teeth. The other boy was punched in the head three times. The 35-year-old male has assault priors. Only the actions of a quick-thinking Uber driver who called the police who arrived just after the assaults saved the outcome from being worse. Unfortunately, this is only one of the number of incidents in the last 12 months. So my question is, this is a follow-up from the notified motion presented by Councillor Phillips regarding the assessment of the current possible expanded coverage of CCTV cameras in the Hastings Street and Noosa Junction Hospitality Precinct. Does the Council have a plan to address this security situation in these areas where some recent events have resulted in serious injury? Are there plans to assess and remedy the situation? Please outline what they would look like. Thank you. Very much.