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ARTICLE · 01 OCTOBER 2018

Avoiding fatigue compliance breaches of the HVNL and regulations

Holding Redlich
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Driver fatigue and drowsy driving is a major safety hazard for all vehicles using Australia's roads, and must be avoided.

AustraliaTransport
Adam Vrahnos
Adam Vrahnos
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In this article, we look at fatigue compliance under the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) and Heavy Vehicle (Fatigue Management) National Regulation (Regulations), as well as some of the factors influencing businesses' Chain of Responsibility (CoR) compliance frameworks in relation to fatigue.

Driver fatigue and drowsy driving is a major safety hazard for all vehicles using Australia's roads. From 2013 to 2017, more people in NSW died in fatigue-related crashes than drink driving crashes. This is somewhat unsurprising when you take into account that being awake for about 17 hours has a similar effect on performance as a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.05.

Telling heavy vehicle drivers and operators to take a break and have a nap is easier said than done. Impractical timeframes placed on transport services, unintended incentives in business practices encouraging drivers to work while fatigued, poorly planned trip schedules and a lack of understanding about work

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This publication does not deal with every important topic or change in law and is not intended to be relied upon as a substitute for legal or other advice that may be relevant to the reader's specific circumstances. If you have found this publication of interest and would like to know more or wish to obtain legal advice relevant to your circumstances please contact one of the named individuals listed.

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