27What is impaired by fatigue

27 What is impaired by fatigue

(1) A driver is impaired by fatigue if the driver is fatigued to the extent that he or she is incapable of driving a vehicle safely.

Note: Section 26(1) explains what fatigue and fatigued mean.

(2) When deciding whether a driver was impaired by fatigue, a court may take into account anything it considers is relevant, including for example: (a) any relevant cause of fatigue or sign of fatigue that was evident, and the degree to which it may indicate that the driver was impaired by fatigue; and (b) any behaviour of the driver that may have resulted from being impaired by fatigue;

Note: Examples

• the circumstances of any incident, crash or near miss
• poor driving judgement
• inattentive driving (e.g. drifting into other lanes or not changing gears smoothly)
(c) the nature and extent of any physical or mental exertion by the driver; and
(d) whether the driver was in breach of his or her work/rest hours.

Note: Sections 26(3) and (4) explain what a cause of fatigue and a sign of fatigue are.

(3) A court may consider a driver to be impaired by fatigue even if the driver has complied with any requirements under this Act (e.g. the standard hours) or under any other legislation. (4) In proceedings for an offence under this Act, a statement by the complainant that, at a specified time or during a specified period, the complainant observed a specified driver exhibiting specified behaviour is evidence of that. (5) A statement by the complainant is a statement in a complaint or charge made by the person bringing the proceedings.