Driving on the Left in Australia: A First-Day Guide for Visitors

Set the car up before you move

Tourism Australia suggests hiring a car with automatic transmission if you are not used to driving on the left, so changing gear with your left hand is one thing you do not have to learn. It warns that the indicator and windscreen wiper stalks may be on the opposite side of the steering wheel to your car at home, while the brake and accelerator are always in the same place.

Before leaving the hire depot, adjust the seat and all three mirrors, pair your phone and start the navigation, because Australian law bans touching a phone while you drive, even when stopped at lights. Then drive a lap of the car park. Expect to switch on the wipers when you meant to indicate for the first day or two; it is harmless, and it fades.

Where right-side habits come back

On a busy road, other cars show you where to be. The risk comes when there are none: pulling out of a car park or driveway, rejoining an empty highway after a rest stop, or turning at a quiet T-intersection. In those moments the brain falls back on what it knows, and drivers end up on the right.

Say a short check out loud each time you start moving or turn: driver to the centre line. On a right turn you cross the oncoming lane and end up in the far lane; on a left turn you keep tight to the kerb. A passenger who reads the signs and says keep left at each turn helps more than any app.

Roundabouts

Roundabouts in Australia run clockwise. The NSW Government says you must slow down or stop to give way to all vehicles already in the roundabout, which means traffic on your right, and vehicles that entered from your left or from directly opposite you.

Indicate when turning at a roundabout and keep indicating as you turn; when you leave, indicate left if it is practical, and stop indicating once you are out. On roundabouts with more than one lane, follow the arrows on the road surface or the signs: to turn left, use the left lane unless the arrows allow another.

Lanes and overtaking

Stay in the left lane unless you are overtaking, and always pass on the right. Tourism Australia explains the centre lines: a single broken white line means you can overtake when it is safe, and where there are two lines you may only overtake when the line closest to you is broken. Where a Keep Left Unless Overtaking sign is posted, sitting in the right lane is an offence.

On country highways, wait for a signed overtaking lane rather than pulling out on a short straight. Road trains can be over 50 m long and take far longer to pass than they look, so the safe move is often to stay behind until the road opens up.

City quirks: hook turns, trams and parking

Central Melbourne uses hook turns at signed intersections, so that cars turning right stay clear of the trams in the middle of the road. You turn right from the left lane: move to the far left of the intersection with your right indicator on, wait until the lights on the street you are turning into go green, then complete the turn. The sign reads Right Turn From Left Only.

In Melbourne and Adelaide, trams share the road, and you must stop behind a tram that has stopped for passengers unless there is a safety zone. Tourism Australia also reminds visitors to park on the left-hand side of the road, as parking facing oncoming traffic is illegal, and to read time limits such as 2P, meaning two hours.

Keep the first day short

A long flight, a new car and the other side of the road add up. Collect the vehicle in the morning, after a night's sleep, and make the first day's drive short, ideally to a campground or holiday park within two hours of the airport. Tourism Australia advises against driving at night in the outback and country areas, because kangaroos and other animals are hard to see in the dark.

Fatigue makes old habits stronger, so take a break at least every two hours and swap drivers if you can. After a few days on the left, most visitors find the habit sticks; the moments to stay alert are the quiet ones.

Plan a short first leg in AussieCamps

AussieCamps lists campgrounds, holiday parks and rest areas around every major airport, with the facilities and access notes the park agencies publish, so you can find a first night close to the depot. Add it to a trip and AussieCamps shows the driving distance and time before you set off.

When you are ready, AussieCamps hands directions to Apple Maps or Google Maps, so turn-by-turn guidance tells you which lane to be in. Place details stay readable with no signal; the map, directions and weather need a connection. AussieCamps runs on iPhone.

Places along the way