If you're taking a road trip, these steps will help you stay safe on the road.

Plan your journey

Preparing your vehicle and planning your journey is the first step to a safe road trip.

✔️ Check your fuel, oil, tyre tread, and pressure before you head off on your trip

✔️ Plan your route and ensure you can recognise toll-road signage

✔️ Secure your load, and if towing trailers or caravans make sure they’re hitched right.

When it's wet, roads can be slippery and visibility may be reduced. Here's some tips to get you ready for driving in the wet. 

✔️ If you find driving in wet weather stressful, consider delaying your trip

✔️ Check your tyres, windscreen wipers and head and brake lights

✔️ Avoid surprises: check the weather forecast before you leave

✔️ Increase the gap between you and other motorists

✔️ Slow down and be aware of vulnerable road users, including motorcyclists

❌ Never stop on a motorway or in an emergency stopping bay unless it is an emergency

❌ Never drive through flooding roads.

Secure your load

The best way to arrive at your destination with everything still on board is to make sure your loads are firmly secured. What looks stable when parked in your driveway will look very different when you’re travelling at 80 km/h or more. Make sure you:

  • securely tie down any cargo using straps or cargo nets
  • check your trailer is properly hooked up 
  • check your storage compartments are locked shut and secured
  • make sure your vehicle is safely maintained and suitable for carrying your load
  • stick to the speed limit.

On the road

When you’re on a high-speed motorway there are a few things that will help keep you safe.

✔️ Observe signage and obey speeds 

✔️ Keep in the left lane unless overtaking or if the lane requires you to exit

❌ Do not stop or pullover on the side of the motorway, except in an emergency

❌ Do not reverse or perform a U-Turn at any time.

If you’re involved in an incident and on one of our roads or tunnels, stay in your vehicle (if safe to do so) with your seatbelt and hazard lights on and wait for our incident response team. Our team have eyes on the road 24x7 and have likely already seen you.

Sharing the road with trucks

Driving at the speed limit, staying in your lane, keeping a safe distance: none of these make any difference in whether a truck driver can see you or not. If you are driving in a truck blind spot, the truck's driver doesn't know you are there.

✔️ Be seen - know truck blind spots

✔️ Keep left unless overtaking

✔️ Give trucks some extra space: leave a safe gap, trucks need more room to stop

✔️ Regularly check your mirrors

❌ Don't sit in the blind spots or in the space between a truck’s front and rear tyres.

Make sure your child car seats are fitted properly every time you travel with your kids. Properly fitted seats provide better protection in a crash, incorrectly fitted seats may not.

We work with Kidsafe to help keep kids safer in cars by offering free car seat checks.
Find out more on transurban.com/kidsafe

Proud to partner with
 

Neura

Neura
Kidsafe

Kidsafe