Driving guides

If you saw police pulling people over for a MDT, would you be worried, or baffled, or both?

Yes and no, as there are no specific laws around driving with a broken arm or wrist, but you could get pulled over if your driving is affected by your injury. Just because nobody has written a law to explicitly ban driving with a busted arm or wrist, that doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t be pulled over by the police and fined for not being in full control of your vehicle. Additionally, if your doctor gives you advice not to drive while you have a broken limb, then you cannot legally get behind the wheel. In some instances the police have required a doctor to sign paperwork to clear you for driving, which they will want to sight.The laws of common sense apply when working out if it's safe for you to operate a car with a broken arm or wrist. Can you reach all the controls? Can you operate the gear shifter, indicators, windscreen wipers, windows, and even the door handles? It's also important to consider that it isn’t just your safety you’re putting at risk by driving when you shouldn’t really be behind the wheel – how would you feel if a loved one was injured (or worse) in a crash with a driver who didn’t have proper control of their car thanks to a broken bone?When it comes to insurance coverage, most companies will only investigate if the broken bone was a leading cause of the crash (and claim), however we recommend you read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for your specific insurance policy (from your insurer) to ensure that there is not an exclusion for medical conditions. While we found this link to the NSW rules helpful, most other states and territories don’t have well laid-out information available. Victoria tells you to check with a doctor before driving, while this legal blog backs up the belief that your ability to drive has to be okayed by a doctor rather than a policeman or your local transport department.​This article is not intended as legal advice. You should check with your local road authority to verify the information written here is suitable to your situation before driving in this manner.

There can be times when it is beneficial to use both feet on one pedal, like the panic-braking trying to avoid a crash. In a similar vein, drivers of manual cars will use both feet when balancing the

Yes, is the short answer. The road laws in Australia say you must stay in your marked lane when turning right or left through an intersection.

Aussies love the idea of enjoying alcoholic drinks on the highway as passengers, a practice otherwise known as 'roadies'.

No, it's not illegal to drive with your interior lights on as there's no legislation mandating whether people can, or cannot, legally drive with interior lighting.  However, by illuminating the interior of the car you are making it much harder to see outside. This is where the police will have an issue with you, as

This is a pretty simple one. You are not allowed to drive above the posted speed limit at any time. Ever.

The old saying is that Murphy (as in, he of Murphy's Law fame) comes knocking at the worst possible time for you.

Though it is tempting, you can't simply hop into a bus lane in Australia and drive on your merry way past thousands of people sitting in traffic.

Quite simply, yes. The police can fine you for not having both hands on the steering wheel at all practical times.