Eight minutes' leeway for looming EWDs

Transport ministers have agreed to a framework for electronic work diaries that won't see drivers penalised for minor fatigue management breaches

The National Transport Commission (NTC) has announced that under its new framework to guide the implementation of electronic work diaries (EWDs), drivers won't be fined for minor breaches provided they don't exceed a total leeway of eight minutes in any 24-hour period.

Agreed to by transport ministers on Friday, May 23, the CEO of the NTC, Paul Retter, said the measure should allay driver fears that they'll be penalised for the smallest of infractions.

"These new rules mean that drivers who inadvertently go a few minutes over time between breaks won’t be penalised for these small breaches," he said in an NTC press statement.

"We want authorities to target those people who systematically flaunt the laws that are meant to keep all road users safe."

Under the guidelines drivers operating to standard hours or under Basic Fatigue Management and using EWDs won't be fined for minor breaches unless those breaches exceed eight minutes in 24 hours. The eight minutes doesn't apply to rest periods and it's cumulative – if a driver exceeds one work period by five minutes then they can only exceed further work periods by a total of three minutes.

The guidelines, which also set out a series of measures to better protect drivers' privacy, will be reviewed two years after the initial take-up of EWDs by the Australian truck industry.

Mr Retter said EWDs offer many benefits over traditional written diaries.

"The implementation of EWDs will be voluntary, but written diaries are onerous and truck drivers occasionally forget to fill in the diary or make mistakes," he said.

"EWDs make it much easier to show that you are staying safe and complying with the law. They also help drivers meet their safety needs because they can automatically alert drivers when breaks are required.

"Drivers will no longer need to carry printouts of EWD information and, unlike written diaries, they do not have to record time in 15-minute blocks."

Draft laws governing the use of EWDs will be presented to transport ministers in November with a view to their implementation in 2015.

In related news, NTC has also published a final report titled Delivering a Compliance Framework for Heavy Vehicle Telematics, which outlines recommendations for how telematics data can be collected and potentially used to enforce road safety laws.

"The NTC has been given the green light to develop a new compliance framework for telematics with clear rules for enforcement officers," Mr Retter said.

"This important technology makes compliance easier and now we have a practical framework to give truck drivers peace of mind about how the data is used.

"Operators using EWDs already benefit from being told when they need to legally take a break and have less paperwork to do – now they can rest easy that personal information is protected."

Endorsed by transport ministers last month, the framework will be implemented by the NTC later this year.

Key features of the compliance framework include the establishment of privacy protections to guard against unreasonable enforcement; a recommendation for publicly available, transparent and accountable policies and processes; and the provision of enforcement agencies with better tools to target high-risk operators. The framework also outlines minimum standards to be applied to all telematics used for enforcement to protect drivers from being penalised for inaccurate data and potentially false breaches.

For more information and to view the EWD and telematics frameworks, visit www.ntc.gov.au.

Eight minutes' leeway for looming EWDs

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