During the peak holiday season, the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) collaborated with law enforcement agencies throughout Australia, successfully identifying nearly 200 offences related to driver fatigue, which included 17 significant violations.
NHVR Chief Operations Officer Paul Salvati said over the course of two-weeks, NHVR Safety and Compliance Officers (SCOs) conducted 4,524 inspections across New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, with the aim of keeping the roads safe during the busiest time of year. The increase in patrols was targeted to identified high crash risk areas.
Of the total intercepts conducted by NHVR officers, 182 resulted in fatigue-related compliance action, with fatigue offences occurring at a higher rate during nighttime hours despite there being less vehicles on the road.
97 drivers were detected exceeding their allowable work hours, or not taking adequate periods of rest, some recording false or misleading work diary entries. 17 of these offences were classified as critical fatigue breaches, the most severe fatigue-related violation, each presenting the highest risk of a driver causing a deadly crash, risking their life, or someone else’s.
Mr Salvati said NHVR officers undertook their usual inform, educate and enforce approach to compliance, providing education to drivers in more than 1,000 of the intercepts conducted, accounting for almost 300 hours of roadside education during the two weeks.
However, Mr Salvati stressed that while the NHVR prioritises education, officers don’t hesitate to enforce the Heavy Vehicle National Law for those intentionally doing the wrong thing.
