What it does
The Road Safety Act 1986 is Victoria's master statute for motor vehicle registration, driver licensing, alcohol and drug driving offences, demerit points, on-the-spot suspension, vehicle impoundment and forfeiture, infringement enforcement, heavy vehicle inspection, mass and dimension compliance, and the legal proceedings around all of those. It does not, by itself, set the road rules: the Road Rules sit in subordinate instruments referenced through section 3 (the definition of "bicycle" cross-refers to the Road Rules). What it does is build the institutional and enforcement architecture: the Secretary as registration authority, police powers to test for alcohol and drugs, automated vehicle permits, operator-onus liability for camera-detected offences, immediate licence suspension at the roadside, vehicle impoundment for hoon offences, and chain-of-responsibility duties for heavy vehicles.