Vehicles with a sign displaying advertising or electoral matter will not be permitted to park in certain roadside areas in six months.
Introduced by the Electoral and Road Safety Legislation Amendment Act 2023, the offence reduces driver distraction to improve road safety. Roadside advertisements can be a significant source of driver distraction, altering visual attention patterns and leading to increased response times and errors.
The offence focuses on vehicles that park on the roadside to distract passing drivers. Examples of vehicles that can have a sign attached include:
- Trailers and trucks displaying billboards;
- metal signs advertising a tradie business that is attached to a trailer cage or ute tray;
- trucks displaying LED screens;
- Bicycle trailers with billboards; and
- Variable message displays on trailers.
For it to be an offence, the advertising or electoral matter displayed on the sign must meet certain criteria.
Advertising
For it to be an offence, the advertising displayed on the sign must meet the definition of advertising which will be declared by the Minister for Transport in a Disallowable Instrument.
Electoral matter
Electoral matter displayed on the sign means any matter that is intended or likely to impact voting in an election or referendum at the ACT, State, or Commonwealth level. This includes any content that explicitly or implicitly mentions an ACT, State, or Commonwealth election or referendum, as well as any subject on which voters may cast their votes in such elections or referendums.
When the offence does not apply
The offence does not apply to vehicles with advertising or electoral matter that is displayed on bumper stickers, that advertise the vehicle is for sale, or vehicles that do not display a sign, such as cars with wrapped advertising.
Vehicles may continue to display advertising or electoral matter while driving on roads in the ACT network or when parking in areas that are not declared. They are also not prohibited from displaying advertising or electoral matter on their vehicles whilst parked on private land.
The offence does not apply to vehicles used by or for the Territory. Trailers that display temporary traffic management messages to drivers during roadworks or to warn drivers of road conditions ahead are necessary for the safety of all road users.
Penalty
To deter this type of behaviour, the new offence has an infringement notice penalty of $700, or a maximum court penalty of 20 penalty units representing an amount of $3200.
More information
The offence for roadside advertising on vehicles will commence in 6 months, it will be prescribed in the Road Transport (Road Rules) Regulation 2017, section 213SA.
The definition of advertising in the offence, as well as designated places that the offence will apply, will be declared by the Minister for Transport in Disallowable Instruments. Further information will be provided when these are finalised.
