Queensland-led study calls for 4WD beach ban after ‘widespread damage’

Calls for four-wheel-drive (4WD) access to some of Australia’s most popular beaches to be restricted have come after an international study found significant long-term damage from even a single vehicle.

Led by the University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC) near Buderim, Queensland, the study recommended 4WD ‘no-go zones’ on beaches starting with Australia’s National Parks.

It found 4WDs have caused “unequivocal serious and widespread damage” to coastal dunes with National Park beaches hit the hardest, “pummelled to death” by recreational off-roaders.

“We’re talking about the degradation of the entire ecosystem, not just the plants on dunes,” said lead author, Professor Thomas A. Schlacher, on the UniSC website, with the full study available on ScienceDirect.com. 

Driving on beaches is an extremely popular form of recreation in Australia – with Cable Beach in Western Australia and World Heritage-listed Fraser Island in Queensland among the most visited – but laws differ from state-to-state, and in many cases require a temporary permit.

Permits are designed to limit the number of vehicles on the beach at the same time.

Yet the UniSC study found a single vehicle could cause rapid significant harm to ecosystems lasting decades, suggesting it was “crystal clear” there is “no safe level” – as in, the number of vehicles – able to prevent damage to beach ecosystems. 

“It only takes one vehicle to cause very, very severe impacts,” said Professor Schlacher.

“We found most of the damage is caused by the first few passes of a vehicle. It appears that there is no environmentally safe level of 4WD use. 

“That’s a bit of a surprise because people often argue, ‘Oh, all we have to do is regulate the volume of the traffic and we will be right’.” 

The study looked at 253 species including insects, reptiles and birds, living in sand dunes across 20 international beaches.

“The conditions that create them are unique. Without protected dune vegetation, the beaches we love are in serious trouble,” the study said.

While driving in sand dunes is illegal, the study also found ecosystems on hard sand – the wet sand where may beaches allow vehicles to drive – are also being destroyed by 4WDs.

“The only thing which works is to get the cars off for sizable proportions of the beach … at least half – that's a good starting point,” the study said.