Truck Drivers' Hours of Service - Canada

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Truck drivers must comply with the Canadian Commercial Vehicles Hours of Service Regulations, which monitors the amount of time a driver accumulates on-duty and off-duty. Depending on if a driver is south or north of latitude 60 N (roughly, where the northern territories and western provinces meet, and passing through Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland) determines what the specific regulations are. The regulations are also different for single drivers and for driver teams. To keep things simple, let's focus on single drivers.

For drivers operating south of latitude 60 N, they cannot exceed 13 hours of driving time, or, 14 hours on-duty time in a day. After these hours have been reached, a rest period of 8 consecutive hours has to be taken. An off-duty period must be 10 hours (there has to be 2 hours off-duty time which does not cut into the consecutive 8 hours). After 16 hours of time has occurred between the end of the most recent 8 hours, and the beginning of the next, a driver cannot continue working.

It may seem straight forward, but, there's more to it than that. It gets a little complicated, when things like deferral of off-duty time, or ferry crossings are factored in. If a driver was working less than 26 hours in 2 days, or if the rest period is at least 20 hours in 2 days, than 2 hours of off-duty time could be deferred. If a driver is on a ferry crossing longer than 5 hours, they may not have to take the mandatory 8 hours of off-duty time, if the ferry crossing can be properly documented and used as a rest period.

The regulations are slightly different for drivers operating north of latitude 60 N. For these drivers, the legal daily driving time can't be more than 15 hours, and the daily on-duty time can't exceed 18 hours. The mandatory rest time is still 8 hours, but the time between rest periods is a little bigger –20 hours, as opposed to 16.

Drivers usually go by one of two time cycles. Cycle 1 is any 7-day period of 70 on-duty hours, while cycle 2 is any 14-day period of 120 on-duty hours. 70 in 1 and 120 in 2 represents the maximum of on-duty hours a driver is allowed to accumulate. At any time, a driver can start a new cycle, or alternate between 1 and 2, if the proper off-duty time has been taken. To start a new cycle 1, and to switch from 1 to 2, there has to be at least 36 consecutive rest hours. For a new cycle 2, or to switch from 2 to 1, 72 consecutive hours are required.

It may sound arbitrary, but, one of the best ways a driver can be certain that they're not a potential threat to themselves or anyone else is pretty simple; get enough sleep.

For additional information on Hours of Service and Hours of Service Training Contact Doug Fulgham visit CayCan.ca, a Transportation Compliance Solutions company.