The National Transport Commission (NTC) has released the Heavy Vehicle Driver Fatigue Data Final Report.
Paul Ritter, CEO of the inter-governmental agency charged with improving the productivity and safety of Australia’s road, rail and inter-modal transport systems, said the research was pointed towards developing nationally-consistent reforms and frameworks to reduce fatigue.
“The regulation of driver fatigue is a complex policy issue and more detailed research needs to be done on its causes and impacts, ” he said.
The fatigue data framework will also obtain further data regarding nose-to-tail shifts, where a heavy vehicle driver works two long work periods within a 24-hour period with a major rest break in between. This work will consider factors such as insufficient sleep, long work shifts, the impact of circadian rhythms and nose-to-tail schedule frequency.
This topic is of one of many of interest to the TWU, any membersexperiencing issues regarding nose-to-tail shifts may send information to jgregory@twu.asn.au