ACT Policing says speeding was a common thread in traffic infringement notices handed out between April 2023 and May 2024. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
“Canberra drivers!”
The term has a certain ring to it – one of those rings accompanied by a sharp intake of breath, a shiver down the spine and a mental flashback to some horror.
Or does it? Are we really that bad?
We decided to do some scientific, some unscientific and pure anecdotal ‘research’ to find out what Canberra drivers struggle with the most – as well as settle the age-old debate around one of our most used (and abused) road rules.
How do our drivers compare to those in NSW?
It’s hard to quantify based on traffic infringement notices, because all states and territories have a slightly different way of recording the way police deal with offences like speeding, drink driving, driving an unregistered vehicle and other instances of road-rule flouting.
But between April 2023 and May 2024 in NSW, there were a total of 545,437 driving offences recorded.
Over the same period in the ACT, there were 7554.
So, on a per capita basis, we’re ahead of NSW at least. Up to 6.7 per cent of the NSW population committed a driving offence between those months, compared to 1.6 per cent of the ACT’s population.
But that’s not to say we don’t struggle with road rules.
What’s our most common driving offence?
ACT Policing says speeding is the most common thread among the fines handed to Canberra motorists every year.
“Speeding is one of the ‘fatal five’ contributing factors to death and serious injury on ACT roads, and it is frustrating to see the statistics show this continues to be the most prevalent offence committed,” a spokesperson told Region.
“If you are speeding, you have less time to react to hazards, and the faster you go, the longer it takes to stop.”
The fatal five are speeding, alcohol and drug-impaired driving, driver distraction, failure to obey traffic lights and signs, and seatbelts.
Of the 7554 traffic infringement notices handed out by ACT Policing between April 2023 and May 2024, 2699 were for speeding (or 35.7 per cent).
A further 744 speeding “cautions” were given.
Running red lights is also all too common in Canberra. Photo: Screenshot.
“Additionally, police are continuing to see road users treating red traffic lights as a suggestion, not a road rule they need to abide by,” the spokesperson continues.
“We are also observing numerous aggressive drivers who tailgate and put unnecessary pressure on other road users.
“The risk that this kind of offending on our roads poses on not only yourself, but other drivers who have a right to get home safely, is significant.
“Speed limits, red lights and leaving appropriate space are not optional. I would urge Canberrans to do the right thing for their own safety and everyone else’s.”
Now to the really big one …
‘Keep left unless overtaking’. But aren’t there exceptions to this?
Out of more than 400 responses to a recent post on the ‘Canberra Drivers’ Facebook page, where we asked, “What’s the road rule Canberrans struggle with the most?” a few kept reoccurring.
One commenter summed them up, “Keep left unless overtaking in zones over 80 km/h, roundabouts in general, indicating, pretty much driving in general”.
“Indicators – including both on entering and exiting … roundabouts,” said another.
“Merge at the speed limit,” wrote another, probably scarred by near-daily near misses on the Tuggeranong Parkway.
But few others kicked a hornet’s nest like, “Keep left unless overtaking”. Or, in the words of another commenter, “For the love of God, get out of the right lane and let us pass!”
“I have a notion that the people thumping out ‘keep left unless overtaking’ are the tailgaters,” one pointed out.
“The people who complain [about keeping left] are usually the people in the right lane,” another said.
“So stop complaining and move over. Or learn the road rules and realise you can be in the right lane on an 80 km/h road.”
Oh, look, a signposted ‘suggestion’. Not. Photo: Traffic and Highway Patrol Command, NSW Police Force, Facebook.
It’s true. There’s a common misconception this rule only applies to rules designated a highway or motorway, but both the ACT and NSW agree – motorists must keep left on any road with a speed limit higher than 80 km/h unless overtaking.
In the ACT, a driver must not drive in the right lane unless deep breath:
- the driver is turning right, or making a U-turn from the centre of the road, and is giving a right change of direction signal, or
- the driver is overtaking, or
- a left lane must turn left sign or left traffic lane arrows apply to any other lane and the driver is not turning left, or
- the driver is required to drive in the right lane under section 159 (Marked lane required to be used by particular kind of vehicle), or
- the driver is avoiding an obstruction, or
- the traffic in each other lane is congested, or
- the traffic in every lane is congested, or
- the right lane is a special purpose lane in which the driver, under another provision of this regulation, is permitted to drive, or
- there are only two marked lanes and the left lane is a slow vehicle turn out lane.
See, it’s really quite simple!
Get caught doing the wrong thing, however, and the penalty is a $349 fine and two demerit points in NSW, and $307 and two demerit points in the ACT.
What grinds your gears on ACT roads the most?
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