Hours of service for truck drivers/truckers in Canada and USA

Truck drivers are regulated by law to drive, work, sleep, and stay off-work. The terms driving, on duty, off duty, & sleeping are used to define driver day to day activity. On duty is any time spent on performing work related activities other than driving such as pre trip inspection, loading, unloading or waiting for load. Off duty is any time spent on activities not directly related to the work such as break times and shower times. Sleeper birth refers when the driver is sleeping. Driving refer to when trucker is rolling on the road.

Drivers are required to complete a daily signed logbook and a trip inspection report containing day to day activities including hours of sleep, driving, on duty, off-duty, total mils/kms driving, date, truck or tractor and trailer number, carrier name, and co-driver name if there is a one. Logbook is not required for city drivers staying within 160km radius of their base terminal but daily trip inspection is always required.

Hours Of Service Driving In Canada

Rules related to hours of service in Canada:

No motor carrier shall request, require or allow a driver to drive and no driver shall drive after the driver has accumulated 13 hours of driving time in a day.
No motor carrier shall request, require or allow a driver to drive and no driver shall drive after the driver has accumulated 14 hours of on-duty time in a day.
No motor carrier shall request, require or allow a driver to drive and no driver shall drive after the driver has accumulated 13 hours of driving time unless the driver takes at least 8 consecutive hours of off-duty time before driving again.
No motor carrier shall request, require or allow a driver to drive and no driver shall drive after the driver has accumulated 14 hours of on-duty time unless the driver takes at least 8 consecutive hours of off-duty time before driving again.
No motor carrier shall request, require or allow a driver to drive and no driver shall drive after 16 hours of time have elapsed between the conclusion of the most recent period of 8 or more consecutive hours of off-duty time and the beginning of the next period of 8 or more consecutive hours of off-duty time.
A motor carrier shall ensure that a driver takes and the driver shall take at least 10 hours of off-duty time in a day.
Off-duty time other than the mandatory 8 consecutive hours may be distributed throughout the day in blocks of no less than 30 minutes each.
The off-duty time shall be at least two hours and may be added to the mandatory eight consecutive hours of off-duty time but cannot form part of it.
A driver may defer a maximum of 2 hours of the daily off-duty time to the following day if;

the off-duty time deferred is not part of the mandatory 8 consecutive hours of off-duty time;
the total off-duty time taken in the 2 days is at least 20 hours;
the off-duty time deferred is added to the 8 consecutive hours of off-duty time taken in the second day;
the total driving time in the 2 days does not exceed 26 hours; and
there is a declaration in the "Remarks" section of the daily log that states that the driver is deferring off-duty time under this section and that clearly indicates whether the driver is driving under day one or day two of that time.

An operator shall require that each driver follows either a 7-day or a 14-day cycle, as designated by the operator for the driver.
A driver who is following a 14-day cycle shall not drive again in that cycle after accumulating 120 hours of on-duty time during any period of 14 days or during the period beginning on the day on which the cycle was reset.
A driver who is following a 7-day cycle shall not drive again in that cycle after accumulating 70 hours of on-duty time during any period of seven days or during the period beginning on the day on which the cycle was reset.

For futher details. Visit one of the following sites.
Transport Canada website or MTO website for hours of work updates.

Hours Of Service Driving In The USA (DOT Rules)

Rules related to hours of service in the USA:

Drivers may drive a maximum of 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty.
A Driver may not drive beyond the 14th hour after coming on duty, following 10 consecutive hours off duty.
A driver may not drive after 60/70 hours on duty in 7/8 consecutive days.
A driver may restart a 7/8 consecutive day period after taking 34 or more consecutive hours off duty.
CMV drivers using the sleeper berth provision must take at least 8 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth, plus 2 consecutive hours either in the sleeper berth, off duty, or any combination of the two.

Drivers of property-carrying CMVs which do not require a Commercial Driver's License for operation and who operate within a 150 air-mile radius of their normal work reporting location:

A driver may drive a maximum of 11 hours after coming on duty following 10 or more consecutive hours off duty.
Are not required to keep records-of-duty status (RODS).
May not drive after the 14th hour after coming on duty 5 days a week or after the 16th hour after coming on duty 2 days a week.
May not drive after the 14th hour after coming on duty 5 days a week or after the 16th hour after coming on duty 2 days a week.

Employer: Maintain and retain accurate time records for a period of 6 months showing the time the duty period began, ended, and total hours on duty each day in place of RODS.

Refer to FMCSA - Hours-of-Service Regulations website for updaes.

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