Bike Carrier Regulations State By State

• New South Wales
• Victoria
• Queensland
• Western Australia
• ACT
• South Australia
• Northern Territory
• Tasmania
• Travelling Interstate

Bicycles appear to be the hot ticket item for the 2021 Christmas period. Considering the times, a lot of people have health on their mind, and what better way to kick start the new year than with a brand new bicycle?

But with a new bicycle comes a new challenge; getting to the track. Some of us have the luxury of being able to leave our door and hit the trail, but for many others, this is simply not an option. That’s where bike carriers come into play.

Now you can’t just throw your bike on your roof, strap it down, and call it a day. There are laws and regulations that you must follow that change state to state. Tracking down the right information can be surprisingly tricky, but thankfully we’ve scoured the rule books to collate everything in a single place.

Remember that it is your responsibility to ensure that you’re using your vehicle and it’s accessories safely and to the requirements of the law. Any object fitted to a vehicle should be designed, built and fitted to your vehicle in a way that minimises the likelihood of injury to a person making contact with the vehicle.

This is information that we found as of the 6th of January, 2022 that can change without notice. This is intended as a rough guide only. It is your responsibility to ensure that all information provided is suitable for your use case.

Types of Bike Carriers

Roof Mounted Bicycle Rack

Rear Mounted Bicycle Rack

New South Wales

Roof Rack

Connecting a bike to your roof

• You must ensure that all connections are secured.
  • The bicycle to the attachment
  • The attachment to the roof rack
  • And the roof rack to the vehicle.

Rear Mounted Carrier

• Do not carry more bicycles than the rack is designed to carry.
• Do not exceed the maximum weight specified for the towbar assembly
• Make sure the bicycle rack and its load does not project excessively behind the rear of the vehicle or protrude more than 150 mm beyond the extreme width of either side of the vehicle.
• Make sure the vehicle number-plate is clearly visible. If the Number Plate is obscured you must fit a special ‘auxiliary number-plate’, which is a smaller copy of the vehicle Number Plate. This can be ordered online at www.myPlates.com.au, by telephoning the Plate Marketing Call Centre on 131 758, or at your nearest registry or Service NSW centre. If an auxiliary number-plate is used when carrying bicycles, it may only be fitted to a bicycle rack that is attached to the motor vehicle
• Make sure the auxiliary number-plate is securely attached and that it’s top edge is no more than 1300 mm above the ground.
• Make sure the bicycle rack and bicycle/s do not obscure the vehicle lights including the brake lights, centre-mounted brake light, and indicators.If any light/s are obscured you must attach an additional set of lights at the rear of the bicycle/s.
• If using the bicycle rack at night, you must fit one or more number-plate lights to illuminate the auxiliary number-plate if fitted.

Penalties may apply if:

• The bicycle rack, or any bicycle fitted to it, obscures any light (including the centre-mounted brake light) or the number-plate, and it is not fitted with an additional set of lights and auxiliary number-plate.
• The bicycle rack, with or without bicycle/s, creates a dangerous protrusion to either side or to the rear of the vehicle
• The bicycle/s is not properly secured.

Victoria

Victoria has very specific rules regarding bike carriers compared to other states. Most are around safety when the vehicle is both static and in-motion but some are not entirely obvious so it’s important to ensure that you’re following all the rules.

If permanently affixed then a bicycle carrier is considered to be part of the vehicle. When it is not then the bicycle carrier is considered a load. Any load, including the carrier, as well as any bicycles or other equipment attached to the carrier must not project more than 150mm from the outermost part of either side of the vehicle.

The following general rules apply for all bike carriers:

• any bicycle carrier, fittings, hooks or attachments must not have any sharp edges, corners or protrusions, nor should it extend unduly beyond the side profile of the vehicle.
• all exposed sections of the bicycle carrier must be radiused and deburred.
• rear and side protruding parts should be designed to minimise the risk of injury to any person who may come into contact with the carrier.

In addition to these guidelines, any vehicle, including a bicycle carrier and it’s load, must comply with the general dimension limits set out by VicRoads which is:

• Cannot exceed 2.5m width and 4.3m in height including the bike carrier and any bicycles.
• Rear-mounted carriers must comply with rear overhang limits. It must not exceed 60% of the wheelbase or 3.7m, whichever is less.

Rear Mounted Carrier

Bicycle carriers should not project more than 1.2m beyond the rear of the vehicle. If it is not possible to stay within 1.2m, a warning signal must be carried on the outermost part of the bicycle.

A warning signal must be:

• During the day, a brightly coloured flag or piece of material, with each side at least 300mm long and
• If driving at, a red light that can be seen for at least 200m.

Number Plates

The rear number plate on a vehicle must be clearly visible from a distance of 20m from the number plate at any point within a 90-degree horizontal arc and a vertical arc of 45 degrees as shown in the diagram below.

If a vehicle is fitted with a rear-mounted bicycle carrier and the number plate is not clearly visible in accordance with the above requirements, you may do one of the following:

• remove the vehicle’s rear number plate and attach it to the bicycle carrier (you must re-affix the number plate once the carrier is removed from the vehicle), or
• order a bike rack number plate from VicRoads. For further information about bicycle racks and number plates visit the VicRoads website.

When using the bicycle carrier at night, the number plate must have sufficient lighting to ensure it remains visible in accordance with the above requirements

Lighting

The bicycle carrier or any bicycles must not obstruct or affect the performance or visibility of any tail lights, parking lights, indicators or brake lights. If any of the lights are obscured, you will need to reposition the obstruction or fit portable rear lights. Portable rear lights must have a pair of red lights visible for 200m behind the rear of the vehicle.

When driving at night, or in hazardous weather conditions causing reduced visibility, the vehicle’s lights must be on and clearly visible. It is a requirement that a vehicle’s tail lights are visible for a distance of 200m behind the vehicle when in use, while indicator lights must be visible from 30 metres.

If you intend to use a rear-mounted bicycle carrier at night, you must ensure that the rear lights (tail and indicator) and number plate remain clearly visible. Portable rear lights must be fitted if any of the lights are obscured.

Removing the carrier when not in use

It is advisable to remove rear-mounted bicycle carriers from the rear of the vehicle as soon as it is practical to do so after use.

Queensland

Queensland is the most difficult to find clear regulations for as there is no public guideline available for individuals to follow regarding bike carriers but they do have rules regarding how to transport loads.

When you transport any kind of load, your vehicle or trailer must be loaded safely so it doesn’t endanger other road users, you or your passengers, or damage road infrastructure.

This means ensuring that your load:

• is properly restrained.
• doesn’t overhang dangerously. For a light vehicle, it must not have a width over 2.5m and a height exceeding 4.3m.
• doesn’t exceed mass limits.
• doesn’t cover lights, indicators, reflectors or the number plate.
  • You may need to purchase an accessory plate when using a rear-mounted bike rack.
  • You may need additional lighting such as a removable light board.

If you’re in control of a light vehicle, you’re responsible for ensuring your load doesn’t make your vehicle unstable or unsafe, and can’t fall or be dislodged from the vehicle.

To keep your load safe, you must:

• select the right vehicle
• position the load correctly
• use the right method of load restraint.

Western Australia

Each character (letters and numbers) of a number plate must be clearly visible when the vehicle is used on the road. If you attach a bike rack or mobility device rack to the rear of your vehicle and it or the load obstructs any character on the number plate from being read, you will need to purchase and affix an auxiliary plate.

Your auxiliary plate will display the same characters as the number plate issued for the vehicle.

Similarly, you should make sure that your lights are not obstructed which may require the purchase of portable rear lights.

ACT

The ACT has very limited information regarding bike carriers and their respective laws. However they do specify, as with all other states, that the number plate can NOT be obstructed.

• If there is a bike rack on the rear of the motor vehicle and the Number Plate does not meet the Number Plate visibility requirements you must order a bike rack Number Plate that you affix to the bike rack.
• If you have multiple vehicles that carry the bike rack you will need to order a bike rack plate for each vehicle.
• Bike racks should only be attached to a vehicle when the rack is being used for the purpose of transporting bikes.
• A bike rack Number Plate must display the same number as the motor vehicle's registration Number Plate and can only be used for that vehicle.
• To purchase a bike rack Number Plate you can phone the Access Canberra Contact Centre on 13 22 81.

Similarly, you should make sure that your lights are not obstructed which may require the purchase of portable rear lights.

Important! If you enter NSW from the ACT then you must follow the rules and laws of NSW.

South Australia

If you have a bicycle rack attached to the back of your car, you may need a bicycle rack number plate.

A bicycle rack attached to a motor vehicle, and any bicycle on the rack, must not obscure the rear number plate of the vehicle. When attaching a bicycle rack to the rear of a vehicle, you can either:

• display a bicycle rack number plate on the rack
• take the rear number plate off the motor vehicle and attach it to the bicycle rack.

You must not display a standard number plate on both the rear of a motor vehicle and on a bicycle rack, or display home-made number plates.

Bicycle rack number plates have the same registration number as your motor vehicle and so cannot be used on any other vehicle.

When you are carrying bicycles on your rack, if the brake lights on the motor vehicle are not visible from a distance of 200 metres under normal weather conditions, you must attach an additional brake light to the rack, which is visible from 200 metres.

You can order a plate here - EzyPlates

Northern Territory

Northern Territory has fairly simple rules to follow but is strict on its requirements.

You must do all of the following:

• attach the bicycle rack according to the manufacturer's instructions
• make sure welding on the bicycle rack fits with Australian standards
• secure the tow bar or roof rack and its load
• secure the bicycle to the rack
• make sure the bicycle rack is free of sharp edges and protrusions.

Rules for fitting a bike rack

You must make sure the bicycle rack and its load does not do any of the following:

• project excessively behind the rear of the vehicle
• exceed rear overhang limits (60% of the vehicle's wheelbase)
• protrude more than 150mm beyond the extreme width of either side of the vehicle
• block any vehicle lights
  • You may need additional lighting such as a removable light board.
• block the driver's vision of the rear of the vehicle
• block the number plate
  • You may need to relocate the number plate when using a load-carrying device or get an additional number plate from an MVR office. If you relocate your number plate or fit another number plate you should consider a number plate light.

If the bike rack blocks the view of the number plate you can re-locate the number plate, or place an additional number plate onto the bicycle rack. You will have to pay a fee for the extra number plate, and it must be identical to the number plate on the vehicle.

You should also remove the bike rack from your vehicle when not using it to carry bikes.

Make sure you can see the rear of the vehicle.

Requirements for rear-mounted load-carrying devices

There are additional requirements to the above for rear-mounted load-carrying devices.

Make sure the load-carrying device and its load does not:

• project excessively behind the rear of the vehicle
• exceed rear overhang limits - 60 per cent of the vehicle's wheelbase
• protrude more than 150mm from the width of either side of the vehicle.

Tasmania

Tasmania has very similar rules to Victoria. Here is the necessary information:

• bicycle carriers must be securely attached to the vehicle, this may require routine checking
• bicycles must be securely attached to the bicycle carrier
• the loaded bicycle must not have accessory items fitted that may become detached when travelling
• the carrier must not carry more than the number of bicycles it is designed to hold
• you must not exceed the manufacturer’s maximum weight specified for any roof rack, bicycle carrier or towbar assembly
• any attachments, bicycles, and any other load, including passengers, on or in the vehicle must not cause the vehicle to exceed its gross vehicle mass (GVM).

On top of that:

• Any load, including bicycle carrier and attachments, must not project more than 150mm from the outermost part of either side of the vehicle or total width of 2.5m.
• Should not project more than 1.2m beyond the rear of the vehicle. If you are unable to do so then a warning signal must be used on the outermost part of the loaded bicycle. The warning signal must be:
  • during the day, a brightly coloured red, yellow or red & yellow flag, with each side at least 300mm long, and
  • if driving at night, a red light that can be seen for at least 200m.

Any part of the bicycle carrier, including any bicycles which may be loaded onto it, must be fitted in a way so as to not be a dangerous protrusion to a person or property. The following general rules apply:

• any bicycle carrier, fittings, hooks or attachments must not have any sharp edges, corners or protrusions, nor should it extend unduly beyond the side profile of the vehicle
• all exposed sections of the bicycle carrier must be radiused and deburred
• rear and side protruding components should be designed to minimise the risk of injury to any person who may come into contact with the carrier.

Any dangerous or sharp protrusions must be removed or covered.

The rear number plate on the vehicle must be clearly visible from a distance of 20m within any point 45 degrees to the left, right or above the number plate as shown in the diagrams below

If a vehicle is fitted with a rear-mounted bicycle carrier and the number plate is not clearly visible in accordance with the above requirements, depending on the type of bicycle rack and obstruction you may do one of the following:

• remove the bicycle rack, or
• reposition the bicycle so as the plate is not obscured, or
• fit a bike rack number plate that replicates the vehicle's registration plate details.

Regardless of the style of number plate affixed, when using a bicycle carrier at night, the number plate must have sufficient lighting to ensure it remains visible in accordance with the above requirements. Hand painted or replica number plates are not permitted.

The bicycle carrier and/or bicycles must not obstruct or affect the performance or visibility of any of the vehicles rear lights. If any of the lights are obscured, you will need to reposition the obstruction or fit portable rear lights. When driving at night, or in hazardous weather conditions causing reduced visibility, the vehicle’s lights must be on and clearly visible.

It is a requirement that a vehicle’s tail lights are visible for a distance of 200m behind the vehicle when in use, while indicator lights must be visible from 30 metres. When required, portable rear lights must be fitted in pairs if any of the lights are obscured and not visible over the required distance.

Travelling Interstate

Even though your license and car may be registered in one state, when you travel to another then you must abide by the laws of the state you are travelling through. Not knowing the rules won’t fly with local authorities

Related items:

Yakima Lightmate

Rhino-Rack Number Plate Holder

Sources:

https://www.transport.tas.gov.au/

https://www.nsw.gov.au/

https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/.

https://www.sa.gov.au/

https://www.qld.gov.au/

https://nt.gov.au/

https://www.sa.gov.au/

https://www.accesscanberra.act.gov.au/