Truck drivers who work overnight for more than three hours in a row are as much at risk of an accident as mid-range drink-drivers, a major study of the relationship between sleepiness and truck crashes shows.
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The study also found drivers with less experience and those who do not use modern technology - such as anti-lock braking systems or cruise control - have a significantly higher risk of accident.
The rate of accidents involving trucks in Australia has remained consistently high in the past decade, despite the general fall in serious road accidents.
But according to a new study by researchers at Monash University, the rate could fall if fewer long-haul truck trips were scheduled for the early hours of the morning.
The study's authors interviewed 530 truck drivers who had been in a non-fatal crash between 2008 and 2011, and compared the results of the interviews with 517 drivers who had not crashed.
One of the main findings was that the chance of crashing increased more than threefold when the driver was on the road between midnight and 6am, compared with 6am to midday. The chance of a crash was also more than two times higher when a driver had not taken a break for more than four hours.
''This is probably the most comprehensive study of heavy-vehicle crashes and heavy-vehicle drivers that's been undertaken in Australia,'' the study's lead author, Mark Stevenson, said.
Professor Stevenson said it would be best if long-haul truck trips were not scheduled for the early hours of the morning.
Even if a driver had slept before starting their trip, he said, the sleep was likely to be of low quality.
''What they're really competing against, is their natural circadian rhythm,'' he said.
But John Waltis, a long-distance truck driver said overnight driving was the industry norm.
"At least 70 per cent of the industry would be doing it overnight, about 30 per cent during the day,'' Mr Waltis said.
Professor Stevenson's study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, reported that more than three hours' continuous night driving could contribute to performance errors equivalent to a blood alcohol level of 0.08.
A spokesman for the Australian Trucking Association, Bill McKinley, said the industry's own insurer, National Transport Insurance, offered the same advice as Professor Stevenson's research.
