Driver Reviver stops: how to plan safe long road trips

Driver reviver stops are free rest sites for tired drivers, and they open at holiday times along busy roads across Australia. They serve a free cup of tea or coffee and a biscuit. They also give you a safe place to get out of the car, stretch and chat before you drive on. If you are heading off for the summer holidays, plan to use them.

This guide explains what you will find at a stop, when they open, how often to break and what to do when none is running.

Sources for this section: Driver Reviver, home page; Roads and Traffic Authority NSW, Driver Reviver sites.

What you get at a stop

Driver Reviver is a community program. Volunteers from service organisations and community groups run each site. In New South Wales, groups such as Lions, the SES and the Volunteer Rescue Association run individual stops. The volunteers give up their own time to help cut the road toll.

Bushells Tea and Arnotts Biscuits sponsor the program and supply the free tea, coffee and biscuits. Sites also have toilets, shade, seating and water. Some add extras, such as radio or kids' games, baby change tables and bowls for pets.

The volunteers can also tell you about other places to stop and things worth seeing on the road ahead. That makes a stop useful for more than a drink. It is a good way to check your route.

Sources for this section: Roads and Traffic Authority NSW, Driver Reviver sites; Driver Reviver, home page.

When and where they run

Driver Revivers run during school and university holidays and over long weekends. The aim is to cut crashes caused by fatigue. Each holiday season, up to 220 sites open across Australia. About 80 of them are in New South Wales, and more were being planned in late 2011.

Opening hours differ from site to site. Some open around the clock for the whole holiday period. Others open from 9am to 5pm, or only at peak arrival times, or at the start and end of the holiday. Road signs warn you as you near a stop. A list of sites and hours is published about two weeks before each holiday period, and the NSW rest area maps show locations.

The program began in 1986 with a handful of sites. Today about 1.1 million people stop at one each year, and more than 5,000 volunteers help run them.

Sources for this section: Roads and Traffic Authority NSW, Driver Reviver sites; Driver Reviver, home page.

Plan your breaks before you leave

A good break plan is simple. Driver Reviver advises that you stop for at least 15 minutes every two hours. Get out of the car, breathe fresh air, walk around and have a light snack or drink.

1. Plan ahead. Work out your rest stops and overnight stops before you start.
2. Be rested. Start a long trip well rested, and make sure your passengers are rested too.
3. Share the driving. Swap drivers whenever you can, and give your relief driver confidence.
4. Keep the car comfortable. Do not let a warm cabin make you drowsy, and keep the music at a level that does not distract.
5. Pack well. Take a picnic basket and a thermos, and do not drink alcohol.

If you travel with children, write down some game ideas before you leave. A bored back seat is a distraction for the driver. A quiz about the places you will pass is one easy idea.

Sources for this section: Driver Reviver, Motoring tips; Driver Reviver, home page.

Know the signs of tiredness

Do not ignore the early warning signs. The NSW Centre for Road Safety lists yawning, poor concentration, tired eyes, restlessness, drowsiness, slow reactions, boredom and oversteering. Driver Reviver adds impatience. It also says that rubbing your eyes is a sure sign you need to pull over.

If you notice any of these, stop at the first safe place and rest. Do not push on to the next town. If you feel tired, find somewhere safe and have a quick nap.

The night is the riskiest time. The Centre says you are four times more likely to have a fatal fatigue crash when driving between 10pm and dawn, because your body clock is telling you to sleep. A microsleep is a short spell of unconscious sleep. At 100 km/h, the Centre says, a four second microsleep means travelling about 100 metres without control. So plan your driving for daylight when you can.

Sources for this section: Roads and Traffic Authority NSW, Driver fatigue; Driver Reviver, Motoring tips.

When no stop is open

Community Driver Reviver stops only run in holiday periods. If you travel on an ordinary week, none will be open. The NSW advice is to revive at other safe places instead. These include country towns, scenic points, service centres, petrol stations, parks and roadside rest areas.

Build those places into your plan. Pick a few on the map before you set off, so you are never more than about two hours from the next one.

This is general information, not medical advice. Rules and opening times change, so check the official sources and the current site list before you go.

Sources for this section: Roads and Traffic Authority NSW, Driver Reviver sites.

Sources

1. Roads and Traffic Authority NSW, Centre for Road Safety, Driver Reviver sites (page last updated 3 May 2011): rta.nsw.gov.au
2. Roads and Traffic Authority NSW, Centre for Road Safety, Driver fatigue (page last updated 3 November 2011): rta.nsw.gov.au
3. Driver Reviver, home page: driverreviver.com.au
4. Driver Reviver, Motoring tips: driverreviver.com.au