Millions of Aussie drivers warned of road rule change with $961 fines just days away

From July 1, millions of Victorians are required to slow down for roadside assistance crews. Source: RACV/City of Yarra Council

Millions of drivers in Australia are being reminded of a significant road rule change officially coming into effect from Tuesday, with penalties for breaking the law as high as $961. 

From July 1, Victorians are legally required to slow down to 40 kilometres an hour when they pass incident response vehicles that display lights of any colour. The Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV) is reminding the public of the change, first announced in April, which aims to make work much safer for the thousands of roadside assistance staff across the country. 

Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, RACV General Manager Automotive Services, Makarla Cole, said around 17 per cent of RACV emergency roadside assistance callouts are to roads where the speed limit exceeds 100 km/h, making the introduction of this new law particularly timely. 

"The change to road rule 79A is an important one to RACV because we’ve campaigned for a long time to improve the safety of working conditions for our emergency roadside assistance patrols, as well as our RACV members, who are assisting on our roads," she said. 

The new change is aimed at making work safer for the thousands of roadside assistance crews across the state. Source: StreetSmarts

In March 2024, RACV surveyed its emergency roadside assistance patrols to gauge how safe they feel while working on Victorian roads. "RACV’s patrols rated 'vehicles not slowing down' as the most common unsafe behaviour that they experience when working on the roads," Cole said. 

She said that 'no or insufficient emergency lanes' was another issue, highlighting the need to slow down in dangerous situations. "100 per cent of respondents told RACV that they believe reducing the speed limit to 40 km/h when passing a roadside assistance vehicle would make their workplace safer," Cole said. 

Since 2017, Victorian drivers have been required to slow down to 40 km/h when passing stationary emergency vehicles displaying red or blue flashing lights.

That rule has now been expanded to include a broader range of roadside responders. Drivers must also slow down when approaching stationary accident towing vehicles, breakdown towing services, roadside assistance operators, and incident response vehicles operating on Peninsula Link, EastLink, and Transurban-managed roads.

The move follows South Australia, which adopted a similar law earlier this year. It's part of a sweeping set of road rule changes to be implemented across the country from July 1, as authorities look to tackle the rising number of deaths and injuries on our roads, which has been on a steady incline in recent years. 

RACV said emergency roadside assistance patrols help over 820,000 Victorians annually.

This article originally appeared on Yahoo News Australia at https://au.news.yahoo.com/millions-of-aussie-drivers-warned-of-road-rule-change-with-961-fines-just-days-away-222809406.html

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