New South Wales Consolidated Acts

ROAD TRANSPORT (GENERAL) ACT 2005 - SECT 154A

154A Directions relating to driver fatigue

(1) An authorised officer may exercise powers under this section if the officer believes on reasonable grounds that a driver has committed a fatigue-related offence and:

(a) that the driver is impaired by fatigue that may have been caused by the occurrence of the offence, or

(b) that the commission of the offence occurred sufficiently recently that there is a risk that the driver may be impaired by fatigue.

(2) The authorised officer may do any of the following:

(a) direct the driver to take rest immediately, or to take additional rest at the driver’s next required rest break,

(b) direct the driver to work reduced hours in the next relevant period to compensate for excess hours worked,

(c) direct the driver to take the next night rest time,

(d) direct the driver not to work for a specified period of time,

(e) if the officer has observed the driver driving in a way that the officer believes, on reasonable grounds, is dangerous, direct the driver to stop driving immediately, and authorise a qualified person to move the vehicle to a suitable rest place,

(f) if the driver fails to produce a specified record or document required to be kept in relation to fatigue management or the officer believes on reasonable grounds that any such record or document produced cannot be relied on, direct the driver not to work for a 24-hour period.

(3) A person is guilty of an offence if:

(a) the person is subject to a direction under subsection (2), and

(b) the person engages in conduct that results in a contravention of the direction.

Maximum penalty: 60 penalty units.

(4) In this section:
"fatigue-related offence" means an offence under regulations made under section 11B, being an offence prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this section.