Planning your journey
Effective journey planning helps minimise the risk of driver fatigue and vehicle incidents.
Everyone plays an important role in using journey planning to improve safety for staff who drive a vehicle regularly for work, particularly those who take long journeys.
If you drive for work, you should read and understand the policies and guidelines for using work vehicles, with particular emphasis on planning long journeys.
When you’re planning long journeys, there are several factors to consider to minimise risk and increase safety.
Questions for planning a long journey
- Is the travel necessary?
- Can you replace the travel with teleconferencing?
- Is a vehicle the most suitable means of travel for your journey?
- Is air travel a more suitable means of travel for your journey?
- Have you assessed the vehicle as the most suitable for the roads/terrain/conditions?
- Have you prepared a realistic travel schedule?
Planning a travel schedule
When planning a travel schedule, you should consider:
- the total daily work hours, including travel time
- the maximum driving hours per day (i.e. no more than 10 in a single day)
- the maximum daily travel distance
- allowances for regular, scheduled rest and meal breaks (i.e. stopping for at least 15 minutes every 2 hours)
- contingencies for abnormal weather conditions or poor road conditions
- eliminating or minimising night driving
- overnight accommodation, if necessary.
Other safety questions for journey planning
- Have you identified the safest route, including avoiding black spots, high risk areas, risky short cuts and congestion?
- Do you need navigation aids?
- Do you have an emergency plan or strategy?
Read more about journey planning on the Queensland Government website.