And how do the cops know that you have not been let off with 6 warnings already because you are too idle, its upto you to make sure you know the rules of the road.

I would have thought you fail a driving test if you do the same. I had a 'friend' who failed a driving test in the Uk too.... even though he crawled along and observed no traffic

Nice one

Be aware that you also can't turn left on a red light. I'm so used to be able to do it in Canada (turning right of course) that when we arrived I think I did it for about a month until I realized that no one else did it.

I felt pretty stupid once I figured it it!

Maybe they should make all new arrivals sit the driving test again, so they can't complain

How about this? I'd be mighty impressed if a truck managed to get up to 120km on these streets. They just installed a Stop sign at this junction (not visible in streetview) which is handily located mere yards from the part-time manned police station.

One of the two officers also admitting getting caught for the same offence a few months ago - and she would definitely have read the rule book
Proves they're human after all.

One of the reasons I don't think there should be a straight swap of licence. We arrived in November 05 and had to do the theory test so had the book and swatted up (had to get all the give way questions right. One wrong and automatic fail. 6/7 months later they changed the rules so it was a straight swap and now there are stacks of expats driving around with no idea of the rules because 'no one told them'. Just another one that winds me up and catches a lot of people out - if your wheels roll over the solid white line at lights, you are deemed to have failed to stop and if a Policeman sees you, he can do you there and then. Seen a few caught on that one but even more get away with it unfortunately.

In Qld it's $300 I was with my friend in her car when she got stopped for same reason - automatic $300 fine - don't know about points on license tho.

Lynn xx

A certain well-known Qld poster got done for not stopping at a white "Stop" line - even though the white line had been covered when the road was resurfaced several months before and had never been painted back on again. He had moved to the area since the work was done and so didn't know there had ever been a line there
Now THAT'S unfair!

We did grouse at having to take the test when we applied for a licence here but at least it made us go through the book, and see where the rules are different. The fact that so many other drivers appear never to have had a lesson doesn't come into it. Just swapping an overseas licence for an Australian one I think is a retrograde step.

Make sure you wear a seatbelt too, when driving!!

Haha. They got me for not wearing it in the main street of our lovely little village of Evans Head in NSW.. What were they thinking?? lol

Ah well, $230 and 3 points poorer, i'll try to do it up next time OFFICER..

And have a nice day.

Why should it wind you up you know you have to stop and you have failed to stop just the same rule in the uk.

You learnt the lesson the easy way. The reason you can't do a U-Turn at some lights is often because the people on the side road have a green left arrow so you would smash right into them. Note, no crazy four way stops here either

When I moved from the UK to Holland, even though I aleady had a drivers license, I took the same theory training as my wife was taking whilst she was learning to drive. And I'm so glad I did too. Learning all the very different right-of-way rules alone was worth the cost of admission - and has probably saved me from having an accident on more than one occasion.

I think that anyone that moves to a new country where there are new/different driving rules should be mandated to take and pass a theory test before being handed a local driving license. After all, you're not going to magically know what the differences are automatically. Your existing driving license is good for 3 months anyway so there should be no excuse for not using that time to learn the new rules. Sure, some will be common sense but, as this thread has highlighted, there may be others that aren't so obvious.

It isn't just your own life thats potentially in the balance ...

- CDM