Guidelines for the Provision of Rest Area Facilities

Heavy vehicle rest areas (HVRAs) are provided to help heavy vehicle drivers manage fatigue and comply with driving hours regulation.

To help road managers in this task, Austroads has produced Guidelines for the Provision of Heavy Vehicle Rest Area Facilities. The guidelines draw on and provide an update to the 2005 National Transport Commission Guidelines and focus on HVRAs that are provided or maintained by road managers.

Guidance is provided on various types of HVRA:

  • Formal HVRA: Are provided/maintained by road managers to support driver rest needs. The guidelines identify five classes of formal HVRA.
  • Informal HVRA: Are not established by the road manager, rather they have evolved through ongoing use by heavy vehicles. The guidelines identify one type of informal HVRA.

The guidelines have identified local government as having a key role to play, including in relation to in-town facilities. The guidelines note that:

Use of towns may provide opportunities for rest breaks, particularly where the towns provide facilities such as toilets, showers, fuel and food. However, use of towns as an alternative to HVRAs should be determined in consultation with local government, to ensure that use of the town as a rest area is supported by the town. In some instances, it may require provision of a suitable parking area for heavy vehicles in the town. Alternatively, an opportunity for parking and/or decoupling may be provided on the outskirts of town.

A copy of the full guidelines is available on the Austroads website.