Driving at night in Australia: Is it safe?

Driving at night in Australia is not recommended due to long distances, lack of lighting, drink drivers and kamikaze kangaroos.

Australia is enormous, and distances between key attractions can be huge. Huge to the point of being an annoyance. There is, therefore, a temptation to cover some of the big drives at night in order to allow for more activities during the day.

You might want to clear some of the vast expanses of South Australia to get from Adelaide to the Eyre Peninsula in time for a shark cage dive. Second time visitors to Australia might want to clear some of the more tedious stretches of the Perth to Broome after dark. It might seem tempting to head off to Byron Bay from Sydney after finishing work on a Friday afternoon.

Differences between driving in UK and Australia

It is important, though, to realise that driving in Australia is not like driving in the UK. That’s despite Australia driving on the left. The difference is partly about distances, but also about the roads used to span those distances.

In the UK, if you need to do a long drive, most of it will be along motorways. And, crucially, well-lit motorways. In Australia, the long drives are likely to be along highways without street lighting.

These drives are often extremely long, straight and tedious, too. It is very easy for the concentration to drift, even if you’re blasting out music and tanking up on coffee in roadhouses. There’s less traffic, too, which tricks drivers into thinking they don’t need to concentrate as much.

Driving at night in Australia

But far more concentration is required when night driving in Australia, due to twin dangers. The first is drink drivers in country areas. People can live a considerable distance from their nearest pub, and get very blasé about driving back from said pub half-cut or having smoked cannabis. And they’re probably above the speed limit, too.

The second, and most notorious, danger about night driving in Australia is kangaroos. It might be nice to see kangaroos on a beach or hopping around outside your accommodation, but you really don’t want to encounter them on a dark road. Kangaroos have absolutely no road sense, and will leap out in front of cars with no warning. They’re big, too, so you can be in serious trouble if you hit one at speed.

Driving at night in Australia: Kangaroo danger

Kangaroos are particularly active at dawn and dusk. This is when you need to be watching the bushland at the sides of the road like a hawk. Scan ahead for any movement, and be prepared to brake at any time.

It is for these reasons that night driving is not recommended. At times, it may be unavoidable, but the temptation to clear those big distances after sundown should be resisted.

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