{"id":121174,"date":"2025-09-28T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/?p=121174"},"modified":"2025-09-25T16:53:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T06:53:13","slug":"dont-drive-tired-these-school-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/news\/dont-drive-tired-these-school-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t drive tired these school holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE Transport Accident Commission (TAC) is urging motorists to avoid driving tired these school holidays, as the number of lives lost on the state’s roads continues to climb.<\/p>\n

TAC chief executive officer Tracey Slatter reminded Victorians to plan ahead before taking to the road during the holiday period, which started last week.<\/p>\n

So far this year, 211 lives have been lost on Victorian roads \u2013 nine more than the same time last year \u2013 with 112 of those fatalities happening on regional roads.<\/p>\n

The TAC is reminding motorists to slow down, take breaks, avoid driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, wear a seatbelt and put their phone away.<\/p>\n

There will be a particular focus on tired driving as Victorians plan road trips across the state to make the most of warmer spring weather.<\/p>\n

Driving tired is a factor in an estimated 16-20 per cent of all fatal crashes in Victoria, and accounts for approximately 25 per cent of road trauma injuries at The Alfred and Royal Melbourne hospitals.<\/p>\n

Recent TAC research revealed that 60 per cent of people admitted to driving while “quite tired”, while 21 per cent admitted to driving “very tired” to the point where they struggled to keep their eyes open. Falling asleep behind the wheel for just four seconds while travelling at 100kmh means a car will travel 111m without control. That’s about the same as 24 car lengths.<\/p>\n

To avoid driving tired, motorists should ensure they get a good night’s sleep before starting their journey, allow plenty of travel time, plan a break from the road every two hours, avoid distractions and swap drivers if possible.<\/p>\n

“Fatigue is a major contributor to road trauma, particularly when people are travelling long distances on regional roads,” Ms Slatter said.<\/p>\n

“We encourage drivers to take a break from the road every two hours, share the driving where possible, and slow down and enjoy the drive.<\/p>\n

“Getting to your destination later than planned is better than not arriving at all.”<\/p>\n

To help travellers reach their destinations safely, the TAC is extending its Pause Stop Program into 15 Visitor Information Centres through its renewed partnership with the Victoria Tourism Industry Council.<\/p>\n

These centres provide motorists with a range of resources to plan a safe journey and activities to entertain children, while also encouraging motorists to enjoy the local attractions each region has to offer.<\/p>\n

The TAC facilitates training of Visitor Information Services employees to become effective front-line community ambassadors and deliver Pause Stop initiative messages to the community.<\/p>\n

“Visitor Information Centres play a vital role in supporting safe and enjoyable travel across Victoria,” Victoria Tourism Industry Council CEO Lisa Patroni said.<\/p>\n

For more information head to tac.vic.gov.au\/road-safety\/pausestop<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE Transport Accident Commission (TAC) is urging motorists to avoid driving tired these school holidays, as the number of lives lost on the state’s roads continues to climb. TAC chief executive officer Tracey Slatter reminded Victorians to plan ahead before taking to the road during the holiday period, which started last week. So far this […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":121175,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-121174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDon't drive tired these school holidays - Geelong Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"TAC urges drivers to avoid tired driving these school holidays as fatigue continues to cause deadly crashes on Victorian regional roads.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/news\/dont-drive-tired-these-school-holidays\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Don't drive tired these school holidays - 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