Sleeping in your car in Western Australia

In Western Australia a person may camp only at a site in a licensed caravan park or camping ground, or in accordance with regulation 11. The penalty is a fine of $1 000. In these regulations camping includes camping in a vehicle, so sleeping in a car, van or motorhome is covered by the same rule as pitching a tent.

Find a 24-hour rest area No vehicle tonight?

Signs override this page. Whatever is signed at the site is the rule that applies, no matter what is written here.

The 44 sites recorded for a 24-hour stay Every stopping place, mapped Sleeping in your car in WA Free showers Libraries

The rule, and the exception

One of the situations regulation 11 allows is camping for up to 24 consecutive hours in a caravan or other vehicle on a road side rest area.

The regulations define a road side rest area as an area designated by a traffic sign, erected in accordance with a written law, as an area that may be used for 24 hours for resting, stopping or camping in a vehicle. The traffic sign is what brings a place within the exception.

Read those two together and the WA position falls out. The exception is not attached to places called rest areas; it is attached to places signed for a 24-hour stay. That is why Main Roads records a 24-hour stay at 44 of its 1,673 stopping places, and not the rest.

What that means for the map

Most WA stopping places are pull-offs for a short break, not places the regulations bring inside the 24-hour exception. This site therefore does not present them as overnight stops. The 44 sites where a 24-hour stay is recorded have their own pages; every other stopping place is listed on its council page with its facilities, so you can find a break without being told you may stay.

The council layer

Each Western Australian local government also makes its own local laws, and none of them have been read for this site yet — every council area below is marked unknown. Unknown never means permitted.

Stopping places by council

Where this comes from

• “A person may camp only — (a) at a site in a caravan park or camping ground, as appropriate, licensed under the Act; or (b) in accordance with regulation 11. Penalty: a fine of $1 000.” — Caravan Parks and Camping Grounds Regulations 1997 (WA), current compilation, Western Australian Parliamentary Counsel's Office. Retrieved 30 Aug 2026.
• “camp when used as a verb, includes to camp in a vehicle.” — Caravan Parks and Camping Grounds Regulations 1997 (WA), current compilation, Western Australian Parliamentary Counsel's Office. Retrieved 30 Aug 2026.
• “for up to 24 consecutive hours in a caravan or other vehicle on a road side rest area” — Caravan Parks and Camping Grounds Regulations 1997 (WA), current compilation, Western Australian Parliamentary Counsel's Office. Retrieved 30 Aug 2026.
• “road side rest area means an area designated by a traffic sign erected in accordance with a written law, as an area which may be used for 24 hours for — (a) resting; or (b) stopping; or (c) camping, in a vehicle;” — Caravan Parks and Camping Grounds Regulations 1997 (WA), current compilation, Western Australian Parliamentary Counsel's Office. Retrieved 30 Aug 2026.
• Stopping place locations, facilities and 24-hour stay status: Road Stopping Places, Main Roads Western Australia (CC BY 4.0). Retrieved 30 Aug 2026.