Track or Unclassified?

How do you guys tag a narrow (single lane) way with v. bad rutted, steep dirt surface that certainly requires an offroad vehicle and can be impassible at times of the year - that connect a small, isolated hamlet/village?

Looking at it, I’d not call it anything better than a track, basically as it’s rough + narrow. Does the fact that it connects to a small settlement make it a minor road (Unclassified) regardless?

I’ve read the guide (http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Australian_Tagging_Guidelines) but still wondering…

Thanks.

If it’s a road, connecting a village to some other tertiary or higher classified roads, I would use unclassified.
If it’s a bad road, just to have any connection to and from a village I would use highway=service.
If it’s even not passable for foreigners (like you described) without having problems, I would use the highway=track and an appropriate tracktype.

For the first 2 cases I would also suggest the use of surface and smoothness tags.

Thanks.

The Australian tagging guidelines do not suggest unclassified for rough tracks. I would use unclassified only for maintained (made) roads. I think you have a track.

Depending if it’s gravelled or dirt…?
tracktype=grade3 (or 4 or 5?)

If in NSW then use the LPI base map as a guide - tracks have 2 dashed lines where as unclassified are 2 solid lines - both white in the middle.

The condition of the road as said above can be tagged with other tags…