Behind the wheel for 25 hours without a break

A driver who drove a 45 tonne truck for 25 hours without a break has been disqualified for 15 months and fined $15,000.

Driver Peter Leslie McRae, 45, from Wakefield, near Nelson, held a log book for each of the two companies he worked for to hide his punishing schedule, reported the police magazine Ten One.

McRae was behind the wheel for up to 25 hours at a time without rest and posed a great danger to himself and other road users, said the magazine.

Senior Constable Scott Johnston, from the Motueka Commercial Vehicle Investigation Unit, said fatigue was a significant factor in many crashes.

"Fatigue on this scale is highly dangers and a split-second loss of concentration could have disastrous results," he said in the latest issue of the magazine.

McRae faced 36 log book charges in the Nelson District Court when Judge Tony Zohrab said the offending was "as bad as it gets".

He said a moments's inattention at the wheel of a 45-tonne truck and trailer unit could have wiped out a member of the public.

Mr Johnston said McRae had a regular job driving logging trucks around Nelson, starting early and finishing at 4pm.

On Friday he would start a second job driving long-haul trucks to Christchurch and back using a second log book.

"Sometimes there would be a quarter of an hour break between leaving one truck and jumping into the next one. On the trip to Christchurch there wasn't time for a rest either. He'd unload in Christchurch, load up again and head straight back," said Mr Johnston.

He said both companies McRae worked for had systems to manage driving hours but had no way of knowing a driver was working for two employers.

He said people in the transport industry were shocked when they learnt of the hours involved.

- NZPA