The agreement by the Australian Transport Council, comprising Australia’s Transport and Roads Ministers, to commence introduction of national road rules from December 1999, is a milestone in Australia’s transportation history and something that has eluded traffic planners and law makers for over 50 years. The new rules will affect almost everyone in Australia because of the dominant influence our roads, cars and other vehicles have on our lives. The initiative has an added significance with Australia being one of the most motorised nations in the world. When fully implemented, almost all road rules will be consistent throughout Australia, eliminating dozens of differences at State and Territory borders - many of these road law differences have existed purely for historical reasons. Common rules of the road will make travel easier for international tourists and for people living in border towns, travelling interstate on holiday and on business, and when shifting interstate. The new laws will also help lower the national road toll by eliminating much of the confusion when driving in other States and Territories. While they involve some significant changes, many other changes have been made to existing rules to simplify and make them easier to learn and observe. To further aid simplicity and clarity, colour diagrams have been used extensively throughout the document, a first for traffic law in Australia. Traffic law, like other areas of the law, is constantly evolving and all governments have committed to a process to ensure that necessary changes are made to the rules to ensure that they continue to remain up-to-date and consistent. All governments have the ability to retain some flexibility in amending the national rules to better match local conditions, but this is not expected to detract significantly from the seamless operation of road rules across Australia. The rules were developed by the National Road Transport Commission in consultation with all Australian governments through their transport agencies and police, the Commonwealth Office of Legislative Drafting, the Parliamentary Counsel’s Committee and many other stakeholders. The Commission is indebted to these organisations and their representatives for their great contribution to the successful development of the rules. National traffic laws are the product of this great cooperative effort and will be a fitting symbol of our maturity as a nation as the centenary of Australia’s federation approaches. (Author/publisher)
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