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Red lights can be infuriating, especially when you're in a rush to get somewhere. Differing studies say you can spend anywhere between one and six months of your entire life waiting for the light to go green.
Even more infuriating is being armed with the information that once you catch one red light, you usually catch a few more in succession, missing what’s called the “green wave” (which you can read about here).
But you’re smarter than the rest of the traffic; you notice that the petrol station on the corner has an entry before the traffic lights and an exit after.
Technically, you haven’t run the red light, you haven’t sped through the petrol station, and you haven’t cut anyone off, so why would the flashing red and blue lights be in your rear-vision mirror?
Well, it turns out there is a specific little sub-rule that stops you from taking a shortcut through the service station and can accrue a penalty similar to that of a red light fine.
Is it illegal to skip the lights by driving through a petrol station?
Yes, it is illegal to skip a red light through a service station.
While the road rule is ambiguously worded, there is a small sub-rule that specifically covers cutting through pieces of land.
“A driver may drive on a path if the driver is driving on the path to enter or leave, by the shortest practicable route, a road-related area or adjacent land and there is not a part of the path indicated by information on or with a traffic control device as a part where vehicles may drive.”
To translate that into something readable – a petrol station is “adjacent land”, and you can’t just simply cut through it because you are crossing a footpath and treating it like a road.
It’s not a rare one to see handed out either; there have been 1550 of these fines given in New South Wales since the 2021 financial year and 154 in 2025 alone.
The fine itself is comparable to a red light fine in most states – for New South Wales, you’ll get hit with a $544 fine and three demerits for running a red light but $410 and three demerits for cutting through a servo.
The idea is to protect pedestrians and people filling up at a station, so it might be worth just waiting at the lights. Otherwise, it’ll be a pretty expensive 10-second shortcut.
Fines by state for cutting through the servo:
Zane Dobie comes from a background of motorcycle journalism, working for notable titles such as Australian Motorcycle News Magazine, Just Bikes and BikeReview. Despite his fresh age, Zane brings a lifetime of racing and hands-on experience. His passion now resides on four wheels as an avid car collector, restorer, drift car pilot and weekend go-kart racer.
