Rest areas

The provision of rest areas for both light and heavy vehicles on the road network is an essential aspect of improving road safety. Having suitable rest areas with well-maintained amenities enables drivers to avoid driving while fatigued, distracted or inattentive. Rest areas are particularly important for heavy vehicle drivers who must comply with regulated driving hours and observe mandated rest breaks. 

Ensuring that we have adequate provision of rest areas on our roads can play a significant part in lowering risky road behaviour and subsequently reducing road trauma to improve road safety outcomes nationally.     

The map below, developed by the National Freight Data Hub(Opens in a new tab/window) (NFDH), is a preview of rest area locations. Explore the data in more detail including facilities, amenities, and approximate usage levels with the full visualisation(Opens in a new tab/window). 

About the data 

Information on rest area locations and facilities is sourced from open data published by state and territory governments, which the NFDH has combined and harmonised into a national dataset.

The truck telematics data is sourced from the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE) and provides some insight into levels of rest area utilisation across Australia, highlighting those which are visited more frequently. Due to the small sample size of telematics data, this visualisation is indicative and not yet suitable for decision-making. With a larger sample size this data could be used to identify patterns and trends to highlight routes or heavily used rest area locations across the country. This could help identify where investment and improvement to facilities would be most valuable to truck drivers, operators and general road users from a safety perspective. 

Download data

• National Formal Rest Areas(Opens in a new tab/window)

Limitations 

The facilities listed as available at rest areas is reliant on information supplied by state open data sources and may be incomplete. 

Some state and territory datasets do not specify access restrictions for light or heavy vehicles. 

There is a risk that data presented is out of date as jurisdictions may update formal rest area datasets infrequently. 

The number of heavy vehicles in the telematics dataset is small compared to the total number on the road network and hence not necessarily representative of movements of the broader truck fleet. 

Rest stop events have been classified as places where a vehicle stopped for 15 minutes or more and within 200 metres of a formal rest area location. Not all stops will necessarily be rest stop events.  

The telematics data doesn't include information relating to the nature of freight being moved, and includes journeys made by trucks which might be empty as well as trucks being repositioned. 

Where there are 10 or fewer stops recorded at any rest area the map shows 10 stops to restrict the identification of individual trucks.