I'm driving from Brisbane to Geelong in a couple of weeks and I'm confused whether it's ok to stop in Rest Areas overnight in in my caravan in NSW and Victoria.
There was an extended discussion on this topic on Caravaners Forum recently. I guess it's a topic that comes up often. Grumpytoo's post is a fairly good summary, but there are a couple of exceptions.There are two rest areas in the northern part of the Pacific where more stringent rules apply, apparently because there have been issues with truck drivers being unable to rest. This PDF provides the details, I gather the trial has been made permanent:
However it is a typical bloody government attempt to fudge the situation.
They remonstrate that caravans should not park in truck areas because truck drivers have a legal requirement to rest, this is true but so do car drivers. Show me in the legislation where it says it's OK too carry on driving your car (caravan) when you've been driving for 12 hours and are totally knackered? Such a defence would not work if you ended up on a driving charge in court. We *ALL* need to rest.
Driver rest areas in Australia are an utter disgrace when compared to most other developed countries and rather than lecture us what the damn governments should be doing is building better ones. How difficult to build or expensive can rest areas be!?
It's hard to find a good rest park for a truck I agree but it ain't easy for a 40' car/caravan either. I try not to take up truck spots and if they means that occasionally I have to park for a night in locations people would prefer I didn't then that's just too bad.
Get off your backside and build better rest stops government!
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"I beseech you in the bowels of Christ think it possible you may be mistaken"
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the biggest problem with road side rest areas is that the trucks keep coming and going all night (we are lucky MACK has done away with air starters) . some of the facilities if there are any , are absolutely disgusting which usually mean the area around them can also be depressing
just a note, mike there is no legislation that says a light vehicle has to stop, but there is legislation that state heavy vehicle drivers must stop with heavy fines/loss of license to enforce it if hours are exceeded even by 15 minutes but a heavy vehicle driver can get out of truck then drive car for as long as they want
the person in their 40 'car/ caravan rig should not be on a tight time schedule means they should be able to take the time to find a much more quieter, cleaner place just off the beaten track