DRIVERS are increasingly being caught out by anomalies in cross-border road rules, with police involved in a recent Albury operation booking a Victorian driver every hour.
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Highway patrol officers in Albury and Wodonga say they deal with confused and ill-informed drivers every day.
The main issues are inconsistent speed, and passenger and towing restrictions for L- and P-platers.
Sgt Cameron Roberts, of Wodonga highway patrol, said drivers who thought they were doing the right thing were being caught out by these and other discrepancies.
“There’s a significant level of confusion about what people can and can’t do,” he said.
“OK, there are some people who need to do a better job at learning the rules of their own state and their ignorance is pretty embarrassing.
“But there’s also the confusion caused by the border issue.”
One driver every hour was caught in Albury recently performing a U-turn at intersections with traffic lights.
The move is allowed in Victoria, but not in NSW unless otherwise signed.
Albury highway patrol Sgt Dean Miller said the onus was on the driver to be aware of the road rules if they planned to travel interstate.
“Police in Albury deal with it on a daily basis because we’re constantly pulling over both Victorian and NSW drivers,” he said.
“If you drive a certain way in your home state and you abide by those conditions and rules when you visit another state, it used to be enough.
“But now with the complexity and discrepancies in different road laws you can’t do that.
“If you’re going to use your privilege to travel in another state, you’ve got to be aware of what you can do there.”
Police also find themselves educating drivers about the laws rather than enforcing them.
Sgt Miller said Albury police would field up to two calls a day about the road rules, while Sgt Roberts was often asked about the differences between states for learner and probationary drivers.
NSW learner drivers are restricted to a maximum of 80km/h in their own state, but not in Victoria.
Victorian learner drivers have no extra speed restrictions in their own state, but face the same speed limits as their NSW counterparts on the other side of the border.
Sgt Roberts said it would be great if the laws were consistent in both states.
“Because it would be one of the most common things I’d been asked in recent years,” he said.
