There are many offences under the Road Traffic Act 1961 involving driving vehicles on public roads. While penalties are specifically stated in the Act for some offences, where no penalty is stated for a particular offence, the penalty is a fine of up to $2500 [Road Traffic Act 1961 s 164a]. Whenever a person appears in court for a traffic offence, the court has the power to disqualify the person's licence or permit [Road Traffic Act 1961 s 168].

In this part, all references are to the Road Traffic Act 1961 unless otherwise stated although some offences are contained in the Australian Road Rules (ARR) or in the Motor Vehicles Act 1959 (MVA). As it is not possible to deal with every offence, only some of these laws are discussed in this part. Further information is also available in the Driver's Handbook that is available from newsagencies or from Transport SA Customer Service Centres.