Why Canning Highway sees so many crashes and breakdowns
Canning Highway is about 17 kilometres long, running south of the Swan River from the Causeway interchange in Victoria Park to Queen Victoria Street in Fremantle. It is mostly a four-lane divided road with a general 60 km/h limit, but it isn’t a highway in the open-road sense. It is lined with homes, shops, bus stops and side streets for nearly its whole length, and it has long had a reputation for crashes. AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” is often said to have been inspired by it.
The busiest pinch points are well known to locals. At Canning Bridge, the highway crosses the Canning River and meets the Kwinana Freeway and Manning Road through a set of ramps, with Canning Bridge station underneath. Further west there are signalised intersections at Riseley Street, North Lake Road, Stock Road, Petra Street and Preston Point Road, then the Stirling Highway junction near the Fremantle end.
The highway’s most notorious spot is in the Melville area, where Hislop Road comes in from the north and Rome Road from the south, offset from each other in a dog leg. In RAC WA’s 2025 Risky Roads survey, this junction was ranked the second riskiest intersection in metro Perth, entering the top 10 for the first time. Nominators said it gave little chance to turn or cross traffic and had a confusing layout, and many suggested a roundabout. You can read more on our Hislop Road and Rome Road pages.
What to do after an accident on Canning Highway
Start by turning your hazard lights on and checking on everyone involved. If someone is injured, or a car is stuck across lanes and causing a danger, ring 000. For a police matter that isn’t an emergency, the number is 131 444.
Because there are so many side streets, it’s usually possible to get a drivable car out of the traffic quickly. Move it around the corner rather than leaving it in a lane where buses and trucks are trying to pass. Then exchange names and addresses with the other driver, which WA law requires, and collect their phone number, rego and insurer details. Photos of the damage, the plates and the intersection itself are worth taking before anyone drives away.
WA rules say a crash must be reported to police if anyone is hurt, if the total damage is more than $3,000, or if the owner of damaged property isn’t present, such as a parked car you’ve hit. The WA Government’s online crash reporting facility is the easiest way to lodge it.
If your car can’t be driven, our accident towing service will collect it, and through insurance towing we can bill your insurer directly.
Suburbs along Canning Highway
From the Causeway end, the highway leaves Victoria Park and runs through South Perth and Como to Canning Bridge. West of the river it passes Applecross, with Ardross to the south, then continues past Mount Pleasant, Alfred Cove and Melville. It forms the southern edge of Bicton, then runs through East Fremantle into Fremantle.
How we help
We’re on call around the clock for Canning Highway crashes and breakdowns. We’ll bill your insurer directly and take the car to any repairer you choose. Call 0419 857 070 and tell us your nearest cross street and direction.