What the road rules say where you drive
One question answered properly for all nine jurisdictions, and an honest register of which instrument governs the rest. Where WayBeacon has not read the law, it says so instead of guessing.
How far back must you sit?
The minimum distance behind another long vehicle in New South Wales, on a road outside a built-up area.
- A long vehicle60 m
NSW: a long vehicle that is not a road train
- A B-doubleTurns on a definition we have not read
NSW: whether a B-double is a road train turns on Heavy Vehicle National Law (NSW), which has not been read
- A road train200 m
NSW: a road train behind a long vehicle
The sign says 4.3 m and you measure exactly 4.3
Are you already committing an offence in New South Wales?
No
No. Here the offence needs the vehicle to be HIGHER THAN the posted height, so exactly the sign is not itself an offence. ⚠ Victoria is the exception: there, equal to the sign is enough.
If it goes to court, who has to prove it was reasonable?
Two bodies of law can reach the same driver, and they answer this differently, so both are shown rather than merged.
Under the heavy-vehicle law
The prosecution does
One general rule in this law leaves the burden with the prosecution: they must negative the excuse once you raise it.
Under New South Wales’s own instruments
Not read
Nobody has opened this jurisdiction's defence provisions, so WayBeacon will not say who carries the burden.
Ask it in your own words
Type a question about a heavy-vehicle rule. This answers from the corpus or tells you it cannot. It will not improvise, and it will not guess which question you meant.
Which law answers what, in New South Wales
Every line names the instrument and how current our reading of it is. Where the licence or the reading will not support quoting the words, it says that too.
- Road rulesmay be quoted
Based on Road Rules 2014 (NSW), as read at 2026-03-27.
Re-enacts the model rules with model numbering, and is the ONLY instrument that documents its own divergence: 80 locally added rules at N to n numbers, 17 model rules expressly marked 'Australian Road Rule not reproduced', and 88 'not uniform with' notes. ⇒ for NSW the variation table can be read off the instrument instead of diffed. ⚠ The publisher 403s automated retrieval; this was read in a browser, which is a throughput constraint, not an access one.
- Heavy vehicle standardsmay be quoted
Based on Heavy Vehicle National Law, as applied in NSW, as read at 2026-08-01.
Read as applied in Queensland and applied by reference elsewhere. Chapters 2 and 5 are absent from that application (corroborated by the section numbering: ss 27 to 57 and 202 to 219 are gone with them). Whether they were never in the model law or are disapplied by Qld modification is NOT settled, so do not assert either way. The roadworthiness duty sits with the owner (greatest control or influence over maintenance); there is no HVNL daily-inspection form, and the NHVR publishes a guide, not a mandate.
- Mass and dimensionmay be quoted
Based on Heavy Vehicle National Law, as applied in NSW, as read at 2026-08-01.
Read as applied in Queensland and applied by reference elsewhere. Chapters 2 and 5 are absent from that application (corroborated by the section numbering: ss 27 to 57 and 202 to 219 are gone with them). Whether they were never in the model law or are disapplied by Qld modification is NOT settled, so do not assert either way. Chapter 4 covers mass, dimension and loading.
- Fatiguemay be quoted
Based on Heavy Vehicle National Law, as applied in NSW, as read at 2026-08-01.
Read as applied in Queensland and applied by reference elsewhere. Chapters 2 and 5 are absent from that application (corroborated by the section numbering: ss 27 to 57 and 202 to 219 are gone with them). Whether they were never in the model law or are disapplied by Qld modification is NOT settled, so do not assert either way. Chapter 6 is fatigue; s 249 hands the figures to the national regulations, s 250 solo, s 251 two-up. s 264 names employer/prime contractor/operator/scheduler. The driver holds their own duties (not driving fatigued, the work diary) but is generally NOT a CoR party.
- Licensingdescribed, not quoted
WayBeacon has not established which instrument governs licensing in NSW, so it will not answer for that combination.
No licensing instrument established for this jurisdiction yet.
This is general information about which law applies, not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for the instrument itself. Where a line says WayBeacon has not opened the current compilation, treat it as a pointer to the law rather than a statement of it.