What is a road train in Australia?
A road train in Australia is a lorry with two or more trailers. They are a regular feature on rural highways and fiendishly difficult to overtake.
Drive along any long, lonely highways in Australia, such as the Stuart Highway or Eyre Highway, and you’ll encounter a road train soon enough.
The road train is a quintessential feature of outback travel, and good luck overtaking if you get stuck behind them. But what is a road train in Australia?
Road trains in Australia
Well, a road train is like a lorry, but with extra trailers. Where most lorries have a main unit plus a semi-trailer, a road train has a prime mover unit plus two or more trailers.
Australia has longer road trains than anywhere else in the world, with three trailer road trains a fairly common occurrence and quads occasionally sighted, too.
In general, road trains are not allowed near city centres – hence you’ll generally only see them on rural highways. Regulations on road trains vary from state to state, with Queensland and New South Wales limiting them to 90km/h and the rest of the country allowing 100km/h.
How long is a road train in Australia?
The length of a road train varies somewhat, but they can reach a maximum legal length of up to 53.5 metres.
Obviously, this can make them very, very tricky to overtake. The Northern Territory Government offers some advice for overtaking them, however. Basically, make sure you can see plenty of road up ahead, and only make a move when you’re sure it’s safe to do so.
Equally crucial is making sure you can see both headlights of the road train before moving back in, and not slowing down after completing the overtaking manoeuvre. These big beasts can’t slow down quickly.
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