While toll roads, highways, bridges and tunnels around Australia attract fees, one driver’s recent experience unveiled a little-known perk that make them more appealing.
What many don’t realise is that roadside assistance is free to all who break down or have an incident on these roads.
Queensland woman Natasha Pravidur made this discovery when smoke started billowing out of her car along the Logan Motorway.
‘So I broke down on the highway the other day,’ she recounted in a TikTok video that has since gone viral.
The 22-year-old said she managed to pull over to the side of the road before calling her boyfriend, who offered to come and pick her up.
But as she waited for her boyfriend to arrive, Natasha explained that she noticed a tow truck pulling over to assist her.
Immediately, she tried to wave the tow truck away, because her past experience had seen tow truck drivers quote ‘$400 to $500 to take you to wherever you need to go’.
She told the driver that she couldn’t afford the tow fee and would simply wait for her boyfriend to come and pick her up.
Queensland woman Natasha Pravidur shared a now-viral video to her @tashpravidur account, revealing how she made the discovery that you could get free roadside assistance on toll roads
It was at that moment that Natasha discovered something that ‘no one tells you’.
‘I’ve just never known this, but the toll roads PAY FOR FREE roadside assistance,’ she said.
The truck driver explained that there was no charge for the tow service in this specific instance because of her location.
‘He said, “It’s free when you’re driving along a toll road. You get free roadside assistance”,’ she recalled.
But it’s not just a free car towing service that’s available if you break down on a toll road. They can also jump start your car and change your tyre.
Transurban’s tolling brand Linkt confirms the service on their website.
‘Our cameras monitor traffic conditions 24 hours a day,’ it reads.
‘If you break down or crash, in a tunnel or on a toll road, an incident response team will be sent out right away.’
Motorists who similarly had broken down on a toll road were among the few that knew about the free roadside assistance service
Natasha’s video has been viewed almost 600,000 times and attracted over 1500 replies, many from people who’d only made the discovery after having a similar breakdown experience on a toll road.
‘I broke down on the M5 once and before I could even make a plan, a free tow truck had arrived,’ one driver recounted, adding that it ‘was completely free’.
Another recalled that her car tyre popped in a major Queensland tunnel at night. She initially called her own roadside assistance service, but was told not to worry because ‘there’s cameras in the tunnel watching and someone will send help to you’.
Sure enough, the lane signals in the tunnel closed off the lane and a tow truck arrived to move her car to a safer spot before changing the tyre.
Another person added that they even scored ‘free petrol’ when they broke down on a toll road with an empty tank.
‘They filled me up to the top and off I went,’ they said.
However, many of the commenters noted that while you’ll get a ‘free tow’ off a busy toll road, it will usually only be to a nearby safe location.
‘They just get you to a safer spot, not all the way to where you need to go,’ highlighted one.
Toll road operators and road workers also joined in the online discussion.
Toll road workers confirmed it was their job to monitor the roads and dispatch free roadside assistance services when they spot a car that’s broken down
‘I love seeing people being educated on this,’ one toll road worker wrote. ‘I’m an operator for these toll roads/tunnels so I spot you and dispatch the tow trucks to assist.’
Another who worked on a major tollway explained: ‘We will tow to safety and depending on the time of day or if we have enough time we can help with tyre changes. Basically, we won’t leave you somewhere late at night we will do our best to get you moving again.’
‘I’m one of the incident response officers and 90 per cent of people I help don’t know about this,’ added another.
This sentiment was echoed all throughout the comments, with many people stunned to learn that the toll road service existed.
‘Holy cow I had no idea about that!!!!’
‘Wait, what. Why am I also only learning this now,’ another said.
‘Sending this to everyone cause I didn’t know either,’ a third person added.
Many commenters noted that there’s a few key reasons why the toll road wants to help clear broken down cars – with safety being among them.
In the event your car breaks down on a freeway, motorway or highway you should try to, ‘move as far to the left of the road as possible to leave the road clear for other motorists’ and avoid stopping on a bend or in areas of poor visibility
‘It’s to get you off their roads safely so you don’t interfere in the flow of traffic or potentially be involved in an accident,’ one person explained.
‘They want to keep the traffic flowing [on roads] that people pay for. They want you out of there,’ another added.
According to the RACV website, in the event that your car breaks down on a freeway, motorway or highway you should try to, ‘move as far to the left of the road as possible to leave the road clear for other motorists’.
If possible, you should avoid stopping after a bend or in areas of poor visibility, which can create a dangerous environment.
‘Once you’ve parked your vehicle, switch off your ignition and keep your hazard lights on,’ the website advises.
‘If your car is a safe distance from traffic, stay inside the vehicle and keep your seatbelt buckled, while waiting for help.’
‘If your car is in a dangerous position close to traffic, exit through the passenger door to keep the car between yourself and moving traffic. Stand as far from the road as possible.’
As noted in the latest viral video, a roadside response vehicle is likely to have already spotted the breakdown if you’re stopped on a toll road and even some major highways.
However you may need to call the Australia-wide road incident response phone number, which is 131 170, or a local roadside assistance service like RACV, NRMA or RACQ or RAA.
