Rest Areas ... Give us a Break

Surprise, surprise … a report just released by the government research agency Austroads has found none of the country's major highways meet the national guidelines for the provision of rest areas. They require a major rest area every 100 kilometres, a minor rest area every 50 kilometres, and a small truck parking bay every 30 kilometres, but you wouldn’t need to have been on the road that long to realise that’s a joke.

The report concluded that 60 per cent of the highways have substantial deficiencies in the frequency or provision of rest opportunities, with the shortage of rest areas especially acute in Queensland and the Northern Territory, with particular problems on the Bruce Highway, the Cunningham/New England Highway, the Gore Highway and the Pacific Motorway in Queensland and the Stuart Highway in the Northern Territory.

The Australian Trucking Association says the shortage of rest stops for truck drivers is a serious threat to road safety because it reduces the opportunities for fatigued drivers to have a nap or to sleep for a longer period. The Association says new laws to be introduced in September penalising drivers and their companies if they don’t stop for rest periods are unfair because there often isn’t a place for drivers to stop safely.

It’s a sentiment that will be echoed by grey nomads who are sometimes desperate to find a safe place to stop for a rest.

Yes, the distances between towns in the bush are sometimes huge but provision has to be made for the increasing numbers of us making the effort to get out there. Tourism authorities make no secret of the financial benefits that grey nomads bring to remote and previously unvisited areas … so how about making an effort to provide us with enough rest areas to get there safely? It shouldn’t be all one-way traffic!

ROLL OF SHAME

The Austroads Audit of Rest Areas found the following routes showed particular deficiencies in the provision of rest areas.

• Mitchell/Barrier Highway (NSW) – excessive spacing of all rest areas
• Princes Highway (NSW, between Sydney and VIC border) – excessive spacing of all rest areas, lack of major rest areas
• Mitchell Highway/Great Western Highway (NSW) – excessive spacing of major and minor rest areas
• Barton Hwy (NSW) – excessive spacing of truck parking bays
• New England Highway (NSW) - excessive spacing of Major and Minor Rest areas
• Sturt Highway (VIC) – lack of Major and minor rest areas
• Calder Freeway/Highway (VIC) – lack of truck parking bays
• Princes Freeway (VIC, Melbourne – Geelong) – lack of minor rest areas and truck parking bays
• Princes Highway (VIC, Melbourne – Sale) – excessive spacing of major rest areas, no minor rest areas
• Bruce Hwy (QLD) – excessive spacing of rest areas, lack of minor rest areas
• Cunningham/New England Highway (QLD) – excessive spacing of all rest areas
• Gore Highway (QLD) – excessive spacing of all rest areas
• Pacific Highway (QLD) – excessive spacing of rest areas, lack of minor rest areas
• Gateway Motorway (QLD) – excessive spacing of rest areas, lack of minor rest areas
• Great Eastern Highway – Coolgardie-Esperance Highway – Eyre Highway (WA) – excessive spacing of major rest areas and minor rest areas
• Barrier Highway (SA) – excessive spacing of truck parking bays, lack of major rest areas

Blimey. I didn’t know there were even that many highways in Australia! It sounds like someone needs to pull their finger out and get to grips with the problem before too many more people crash.

• What’s the longest you’ve had to go between rest areas? Email us here with your views on the rest area crisis.

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