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