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About this tool
Plan rest stops, fuel halts and a realistic arrival time for a long drive using the 15-minute break every two hours rule.
The Driving Break Planner turns a distance and a realistic average speed into a stop-by-stop running order and an honest arrival time, counting rest breaks, meal halts, refuelling and any overnight stop. The default rhythm is the standard fatigue advice of a 15-minute break after every two hours at the wheel; a preset switches to the commercial rule in the Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961 — eight hours a day with a half-hour rest after five hours of continuous work. Useful for anyone who keeps arriving three hours later than the map app promised.
Open Driving Break Planner on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Under The drive, enter Distance (km), a Realistic average speed (km/h), the Start date and Start time, and a 'Traffic and detour buffer (% added to driving time)'.
Under Stops, set 'Break after this many hours of driving', the length of each break, Meal stops, 'Range on a full tank (km, 0 to skip)', 'Maximum driving hours in a day' and 'Overnight halt (hours)' - or press 'Use the commercial driver rule' for a 30-minute break every 5 hours.
Read the 'You arrive' time with the 'Total time off the road' and 'Effective door-to-door speed' rows, follow the Running order table of Clock, Distance and What happens, then press Copy result.
Breaks, fuel halts and meals are added to driving time, which is where map estimates go wrong.
Applies your daily driving ceiling and adds the overnight halt to the arrival time.
Private-car fatigue advice by default, the commercial statutory limits with one click.
At least 15 minutes after every two hours at the wheel. That is the interval in standard road-safety guidance, including rule 91 of the UK Highway Code, and it is the default here. Fatigue builds faster at night and after a heavy meal, so shorten the interval rather than stretching it.
For commercial drivers, eight hours a day and forty-eight hours a week under section 13 of the Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961, with a rest interval of at least half an hour after five hours of continuous work. Private drivers have no statutory limit, but eight hours is a sensible ceiling and is what this tool defaults to.
Far below the speed limit. Between 50 and 60 km/h is realistic for a mixed national-highway route once towns, level crossings and toll queues are counted, and 70 to 80 km/h on a controlled-access expressway. Enter a moving average rather than the limit, and add a traffic buffer for city exits.
Stop. Coffee, loud music and cold air buy minutes, not hours, and a microsleep can happen with no warning at all. The reliable fix is a 15 to 20 minute nap in a safe parking area, and swapping drivers where possible. If the schedule only works by driving tired, the schedule is wrong.