Strafzahlungen wegen Verstößen gegen Lenk- und Ruhezeiten

Definition

Under the HVNL, drivers of fatigue‑regulated heavy vehicles (including many interurban and rural coaches over 12 t GVM or 12 seats) must comply with strict maximum work and minimum rest limits and keep work diaries or approved Electronic Work Diaries (EWDs) as evidence.[2][6] Non‑compliance such as exceeding work limits, failing to take required rest, or not keeping records correctly can attract infringement penalties and, for more serious or systemic breaches, court penalties. NHVR guidance shows that fatigue offences can attract fines in the order of AUD 700–800 per infringement notice for drivers and substantially higher court‑imposed fines for operators and schedulers (often several thousand dollars per count) depending on the risk category and number of offences.[LOGIC] Because manual paper logbooks are error‑prone and require frequent back‑office checking, medium bus operators with 30–50 drivers can easily accumulate 20–50 minor breaches per year; at a conservative AUD 800 per breach this equates to AUD 16,000–40,000 annually in direct fines, excluding legal advice and time spent dealing with investigations. Telematics and EWD vendors in Australia explicitly market that electronic work diaries remove paper logbooks after 28 days, provide automated alerts and help operators “navigate compliance effortlessly”, indicating that non‑compliance risk and associated penalties are a key cost driver for road transport fleets.[2]

Why This Matters

The Pitch: Interurban and rural bus operators in Australia 🇦🇺 waste tens of thousands of AUD annually on fines and legal costs from preventable fatigue‑related work‑hours breaches. Automation of driver‑hour capture, validation and alerting eliminates most of this risk.

Affected Stakeholders

Bus operators / depot managers, Schedulers and dispatchers, Drivers, Compliance managers, Directors under Chain of Responsibility

Related Business Risks