The beach where cars go to die: safety warning after recent vehicle strandings at Nanarup Beach

A recent flurry of vehicles stranded on a notorious stretch of Nanarup Beach has prompted a safety reminder from the City of Albany. In recent weeks, a four-wheel-drive ute has been swallowed up by the water and a car trailer has suffered the same fate, becoming stranded in the sand. One nearby resident said she was getting sick of pulling vehicles away from the breakers. The difficult process of removing the vehicles is both time consuming and costly, and falls on the owner of the vehicle — if and when they can be identified. “If rangers from either the City of Albany or the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions receive a report that a vehicle is abandoned or stuck on a public space, then the agency responsible for that particular piece of land will be the one to remove the vehicle,” City public health and safety manager Scott Reitsema said. “The process to remove these vehicles requires heavy towing equipment from a third-party supplier to travel out to the location and retrieve the vehicle, often through sandy, muddy or wet terrain, making the process much more difficult for these individuals. “Once the owner of the vehicle is established, the matter will be followed up as an abandoned vehicle or an act of littering or dumping on public land, which may incur an infringement and associated vehicle removal costs.” Mr Reitsema said most vehicles which became bogged on beaches did not get reported to the City because they were retrieved by the owner or a third-party recovery organisation. “The City encourages those who seek to drive off-road to ensure they are appropriately equipped for the diverse terrain and prepared for emergency situations,” he said. Karla Kinnear, who has lived near the notorious stretch of beach for 62 years, said it was not uncommon for vehicles to become bogged on the beach. “We go down to the beach nearly every day and there are just so many idiots driving up and down the beach at full speed,” she said. “This time of year the beach is very treacherous. We’ve pulled people out with the tractor for years ... but we are getting sick of it.”