But police have warned all motorists — tourists and locals alike — that driving over the two white lines in the middle of the CBD streets is against the law and could result in a fine.

Sergeant Cameron Ross said there had been a number of infringement notices given to drivers for crossing double lines this summer.

“I’ve talked to a couple of officers who have been writing quite a few penalty notices and there’s been a few (notices for crossing double lines) in there,” Sergeant Ross said.

“It is a seasonal thing.

“We get a lot of tourists who come to town and generally it is tourists doing it — it’s not isolated to tourists, we get some locals doing it — but it’s an issue over the summer months especially because there are a lot of out-of-town people here.

“It’s because they’re either not au fait with that law or they’re not paying attention to the solid white lines in the middle of the road — they just see a car park across the road and go for it.

“You and I know you just drive to the next roundabout because it’s literally about 20 metres away, but tourists aren’t used to that.

“People are coming here from Melbourne or somewhere that they don’t have double solid white lines in the middle of the street.

“We’re not writing hundreds of tickets on this, but we are getting the odd one here or there.

“It happens more than we do see, but we’ve got to witness it (to issue a penalty notice).”

Sergeant Ross said drivers also needed to be aware that they needed to come to a complete stop at a stop sign, with the most common area where this road law is ignored being when drivers cross Raglan Parade.

“That’s an issue we have constantly,” he said.

“We could sit there and give out 40 tickets every day.”

mneal@fairfaxmedia.com.au