Personalised transport fatigue management

Fatigue management is part of the 'chain of responsibility' policy for the personalised transport reforms. It is an important step to ensuring the safety of the personalised transport industry for passengers, drivers and the public.

New general duties in relation to fatigue management have been established through section 91B of the Transport Operations (Passenger Transport) Act 1994. These duties place obligations on all people in the chain of responsibility to take reasonable steps to ensure another person does not drive a personalised transport vehicle while fatigued. Similarly, drivers of personalised transport vehicles must not drive while fatigued.

Obligations under General Duty

The general duty came into effect from 1 October 2017 and is the first part of the fatigue management reforms. It includes 2 key obligations:

• A person must not drive a motor vehicle while fatigued. A maximum penalty of 160 penalty units applies ($24,768).
• Other people involved in providing a taxi service or booked hire service (a person in the chain of responsibility) must take all reasonable steps to ensure another person does not drive a vehicle to provide the service while fatigued. A maximum penalty of 160 penalty units applies ($24,768).

All participants in the personalised transport industry need to be aware of the fatigue management general duty.

The Department of Transport and Main Roads can audit anyone in the chain of responsibility to investigate whether they have appropriate systems in place for managing driver fatigue and other safety risks.

Fee increase

On 1 July 2023 our fees and charges increased by 3.4% in line with the government's indexation policy.