What it does
The Road Transport Act 2013 (NSW) (the Act) is the principal statute governing road users, driver licensing, vehicle registration, traffic management and road safety in New South Wales. Its core objects, set out in s 3, are to consolidate most statutory provisions on these topics into a single Act, to implement uniform national approaches to driver licensing and vehicle registration consistent with the Inter-Governmental Agreement for Regulatory and Operational Reform in Road, Rail and Intermodal Transport, to facilitate cost recovery for administration (particularly licensing and registration), and to address additional local regulatory needs not covered by national reforms.
Structurally, the Act is divided into seven Parts. Part 1 contains introductory provisions, objects, and an extensive interpretation section (s 4) with over 140 defined terms, including “alcohol or other drug related driving offence”, “Australian driver licence”, “heavy vehicle”, “major offence”, “responsible person”, and “road related area”. It also clarifies that references to “road” include “road related area” (s 5) and defines “road transport legislation” to encompass this Act, the regulations, the Motor Vehicles Taxation Act 1988, and prescribed Acts (s 6). Part 2 establishes the driver licensing system (ss 27–61G), including the NSW driver licence register (s 27), mutual recognition (s 29), the demerit points system (ss 31–43A), interlock devices (ss 44–48), and offences (ss 49–54). Digital driver licences are regulated in Part 3.7 (ss 61A–61E).
Part 4 creates the registration system for vehicles (ss 62–105), maintaining the NSW registrable vehicles register (s 64), imposing obligations on registered operators (s 70), and regulating written-off light and heavy vehicles (Parts 4.5 and 4.5A). Part 5 addresses alcohol and other drug use (ss 107–114 and Schedule 3), speeding and dangerous driving (ss 115–120), traffic control and monitoring (ss 121–141, including approved traffic enforcement devices under s 134 and average speed detection in Division 3), vehicle use and safety (ss 142–148), and miscellaneous police powers (ss 148A–148U, including micromobility vehicle sharing services in Part 5.7 inserted in 2025). Part 6 covers authorised officers (ss 166–173), identity powers (ss 174–179), criminal responsibility (ss 180–195, including corporate accessorial liability in s 182 and operator onus in Division 2), sanctions on licences (ss 204–221F, including the mandatory alcohol interlock program in Division 2 and removal of disqualifications in Division 3A), sanctions on vehicles (ss 236–255, including impoundment and forfeiture), and evidential provisions (ss 256–265). Part 7 contains appeals to the Local Court (ss 266–270), compensation orders (ss 227–235), and miscellaneous provisions (ss 271–280).