If you were hurt in a car accident on the way to or from work in South Australia, two schemes can be involved: workers compensation and the motor accident scheme. Which one pays depends on the state’s rules, and getting it wrong can cost you time you do not have. Here is how it works in SA, from the official sources.
Does workers compensation cover the drive to work in SA?
In SA, the Law Handbook says injuries while travelling between home and work, when no duty of your job is being done, are excluded from workers compensation. Journeys made for work purposes are included.
What about the motor accident scheme?
For a crash on an ordinary commute, the CTP scheme is the usual route. If workers compensation has paid you, those payments may have to be repaid from a CTP payout.
The motor accident scheme in SA: Compulsory Third Party (CTP), a fault-based scheme, plus the no-fault Lifetime Support Scheme for catastrophic injuries.
What to do now
- Report the crash to the police. The CTP claim form asks for the police report number, and drivers in an injury crash must present to police within 90 minutes (SA Law Handbook).
- Claim against the CTP insurer. The SA scheme is fault-based.
- Claim early: after six months you must give the insurer a reason for the delay, and after three years a claim will generally not be accepted (CTP Regulator).
If your employer’s scheme may also be involved:
- Tell your employer about the injury as soon as possible, within 24 hours if you can (ReturnToWorkSA).
- If you have lost time from work, get a work capacity certificate.
- Make the claim as soon as possible. The SA Law Handbook says a claim should be made within 6 months of the entitlement arising.
Free official help
- CTP Regulator: 1300 303 558
- Legal Services Commission of SA: 1300 366 424
- ReturnToWorkSA: 13 18 55
- Legal Services Commission of SA (free legal help): 1300 366 424
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General information, not legal advice. Claim Done is not a law firm. Checked against the official sources below on 22 October 2026. If you need an interpreter, call TIS National on 131 450.
Official sources
- ReturnToWorkSA: Employer and worker obligations
- ReturnToWorkSA: Make a claim
- SA Law Handbook: Workers compensation
- SA Law Handbook: Motor vehicle accidents
- CTP Regulator SA: How to claim