Road Rules

If you are going to drive in Australia, no matter whether you are an experienced driver and have an international drivers’ licence or not, YOU MUST KNOW THE ROAD RULES before you attempt to drive (even 10metres)! Many lives are lost on Australian roads every year and international visitors are at high risk! If you come from a country where you drive on the opposite side of the road to Australia it is sometimes helpful to have a companion drive with you to ensure you both take note of traffic conditions and signs until you are more familiar with driving on the left side of the road. A handy tip is not to think of it as the other side of the road, but to think that the “white line” (or centre dividing line on the road) is on your side as the driver, just as it is in all countries. It is recommended that you take one or two driving lessons in Australia before you begin to drive here on your own. 

Seat belts

It is compulsory for seat belts to be worn by everyone in the car – driver and passengers.

Helmets

Helmets must be worn on motorbikes and bicycle helmets must be worn when riding a bicycle.

Owning a Car

Registration:

Any motor vehicle you own must be registered before you drive it on the road. You must register it in your name and provide the State car registration board with your driver’s licence details and your residential address in Australia.

Insurance:

It is recommended that you have car insurance if you own a car, this will protect you if you have an accident that is your fault as it will help pay for any damage you may have caused to your car or another car.

Speed

There are very obvious reasons for having speeding and traffic rules. The risk of being involved in an accident increases with the speed a vehicle is being driven because there is less time to react, less control of the vehicle and the distance needed to stop is longer. The higher the speed a vehicle is travelling when it hits a pedestrian, the greater the chance of a fatality occurring. Speed kills.

Mobile Phones and Driving

The use of mobile phones when driving is dangerous, against the law if it's not hands-free, and potentially fatal. This applies to sending or receiving text messages as well as calls.

Talking or texting on a mobile phone while driving makes you nine times more likely to be killed in a collision. Police actively target the use of mobile phones by motorists. Fines are considerable and demerit point’s penalties do apply. You should be aware of how to legally use a mobile phone while driving.

Demerit Points Scheme

The Demerit Points Scheme is a national program that allocates penalty points (demerits) for a range of driving offences. The scheme is designed to encourage safe and responsible driving. Along with financial penalties, demerit points provide a strong incentive to drive within the law.
Different offences have a different number of demerit points. A complete list of all offences, demerit points and fines can be downloaded from the related links section.

(Source: Roads and Traffic Authority, NSW)

Licence Requirements

Below is information obtained form the ACT Government website, you should verify that the information is up to date by checking the website before driving a car in the ACT.

Applying for an ACT Drivers Licence

For holders of Overseas Driver’s Licences

If you already have a licence (other than a learner licence) from any Australian state or territory, you can exchange it for an ACT licence at any ACT Government Shopfront or the Civic Driver Licence Service. You will need to provide proof of identity and residency and produce your existing licence.

If you have a current driver’s licence and it is from one of the following countries:

Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States.

then you are exempt from the road rules knowledge test and also exempt from the practical driving test.

If your licence from an approved country has expired, you will be required to obtain and present a statement of licence history from the issuing authority of your expired driver’s licence. If this statement is not in English, it will need to be translated into English by an accredited translator.

If you have a licence from a country not listed above, you will have to successfully complete a road rules knowledge test and either:

• pass a practical driving test with a government licence examiner; or
• undertake training and continuing assessment with an accredited driving instructor (the 'log book' system).

The knowledge test is conducted by the Road Ready Centre at the Canberra Technology Park, 47 Phillip Avenue, Downer, or at the Road Ready Centre, 72 Townsend Street Phillip, and costs $30.00.

To sit the test, you will need to provide two passport photographs and produce your overseas licence. It is not necessary to make a booking.

You must apply in person for a licence.

Proof of Identity and Residency

Where proof of identity and/or residency are required, documents must be current and originals only.

Any documents in foreign languages must include a certified translation from either the:

• Official representative of the issuing country
• Department Immigration and Citizenship
• Translating & Interpreting Service (telephone 13 14 50)

You are required to produce one primary proof of identification, plus one secondary proof of identification, plus proof of residency. Secondary proof of identity is not required if two primary documents are provided. At least one of the documents must show a signature.

Source: Canberra Connect Enquiries and Rego ACT Website

ACT Government information can be found at:

the canberra connect website 

ACT Government Shop front

Find information and make payments to ACT Government agencies at any one of the four shopfronts located across Canberra. Locations of other shopfronts as well as other current information can be found at the link above.

Belconnen Shop front

Address: Swanson Plaza, Swanson Court, Belconnen, ACT 2616

Phone: 13 22 81

Opening/Closing hours: Mon: 09.00am-05.00pm, Tue: 09.00am-05.00pm, Wed: 09.00am-05.00pm, Thur: 09.00am-05.00pm, Fri: 09.00am-05.00pm

Drinking Alcohol and Driving

If you are going to drink alcohol, don't drive. If you are going to drive, don't drink alcohol. Anything else is a risk, not only to you, but also to other motorists and pedestrians. Alcohol is involved in about one-third of all serious motor vehicle accidents. As the level of alcohol increases in your body, you have more risk of being involved in an accident. Driving with a blood-alcohol content above the legal limit is dangerous to others as well as yourself and severe legal penalties apply. If you are above the prescribed blood alcohol content level, as the level of alcohol in your body increases, so does the severity of your fine and/or jail term.

Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) Levels

The blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is the amount of alcohol in the bloodstream. A BAC of 0.05 means you have 0.05 grams of alcohol in every 100ml of your blood. As the liver metabolises alcohol at around one standard drink per hour, the BAC level drops unless more alcohol is consumed. BAC is measured with a breathalyser, or by analysing a sample of blood.

Legal BAC Limits

There are legal limits as to the BAC level permissible if you are driving:

Factors Affecting your BAC

The more you drink, the higher your BAC. But two people who drink the same amount might register quite different BACs. There are many factors that will affect this, including:

• Body size: A smaller person will have a higher BAC than a larger person because the alcohol is concentrated in a smaller body mass.
• Empty stomach: Someone with an empty stomach will reach a higher BAC sooner than someone who has just eaten a meal. Food in the stomach slows down the rate at which alcohol passes into the bloodstream.
• Body fat: People with a lot of body fat tend to have higher BACs because alcohol is not absorbed into fatty tissue, so alcohol is concentrated in a smaller body mass.
• Women: After drinking the same amount of alcohol, a woman will almost always have a higher BAC than a male.

Because of all these variable factors, counting the number of standard drinks you consume can only give a rough guide to your BAC. For more detailed information about alcohol and how it effects you, please see the Australian Drug Foundation website.

Drinking Limits Advice

To stay below 0.05 BAC, drivers are advised to limit their drinking to:

• For men: No more than two standard drinks in the first hour and no more than one standard drink every hour after that.
• For women: No more than one standard drink in the first hour and no more than one every hour after that.

Random Breath Testing (RBT)

Random breath testing of drivers for blood alcohol levels and drug use is common at any time of the day or night. Police officers have the right to stop any vehicle at any time and require the driver to supply samples for screening. Any person driving a motor vehicle is required by law to have less than a specified amount of alcohol in their blood. If a driver exceeds the level which applies to them the driver has committed an offence.

Increased Risk of an Accident

It is safest not to drink alcohol at all if you are going to drive. The more alcohol you have in your body, the more risk you have of being involved in an accident.

• At 0.05% Blood Alcohol Content (BAC), your risk of being involved in a road accident is double that of a 0.00% reading.
• At 0.1% BAC your risk is more than seven times as high of being involved in a road accident, than at 0.00%.
• At 0.15% your risk increases to 25 times that of driving at 0.00%.

DON’T DRINK & DRIVE!

(Source: Australian Federal Police)