The Australian Road Rules (ARR) are a set of road rules created in 1999 and now administered by the National Transport Commission (NTC) intended to provide a consistent set of rules for the States to implement into their road rules.
Much has been written about the ARR with a lot of what is written misleading, with claims they are not law in any State. The truth is a little different with the rules being law in all Territories administered by the Commonwealth.
The rules are directly written into law in the ACT and NT. In some States the rules are written into law by reference. The information here is intended to clarify the status of the ARR.
The Australian Road Rules are a set of nationally agreed road rules approved by the Australian Transport Council and maintained by the National Transport Commission of the Commonwealth. The road rules of the States and Territories are based largely on the Australian Road Rules.
Currently, the Australian Road Rules are incorporated into the law of New South Wales by reference. Clause 6 of the Road Transport (Safety and Traffic Management) (Road Rules) Regulation 1999 provides that, subject to that Regulation, the Australian Road Rules are to be read with, and as if they formed part of, the Regulation.
However, the Australian Road Rules are not actually set out in the Regulation. The Regulation also makes provision for road rules in addition to those set out in the Australian Road Rules.
The objects of these Rules are:
Helmet rules are an area of regulations which have not been fully unified via the ARR. The basic rules are there but there is no exemption system, no helmet standard definitions and no consistent set of helmet related offences.
The ARR are the logical location for a single set of national road use helmet standards to be defined.