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| Commercial Vehicle Drivers' Hours of Work Regulations |
|---|
Motor Vehicle Act
R.S.N.S. 1989, c. 293
O.I.C. 90-946 (July 31, 1990), N.S. Reg. 226/90
as amended up to and including O.I.C. 1999-490 (Oct. 13, 1999), N.S. Reg. 102/99
Definitions
1 (1) In these regulations
(a) "Act" means the Motor Vehicle Act;
(b) "adverse driving conditions" means conditions that adversely affect the driving of a commercial vehicle and includes snow, sleet, ice and fog conditions and any other unfavourable atmospheric, road or driving conditions, none of which was apparent or known on the basis of existing information by the driver or the dispatcher at the commencement of the trip;
(c) "automatic on-board recording device" means any electric, electronic or electro-mechanical device capable of recording a driver's duty status information accurately and automatically;
(d) "carrier" means a person who owns, leases or is responsible for the operation of a commercial vehicle;
(e) "commercial vehicle" means
(i) a truck, truck-tractor or trailer, or combination thereof exceeding a registered gross vehicle weight of 4500 kg, or
(ii) a bus designed, constructed and used for the transportation of passengers with a designated seating capacity of more than ten, including the driver, but does not include a bus when being operated for personal use;
(f) "daily log" means a daily record covering a twenty-four hour period which provides the information required to be kept under Sections 14 and 15 and includes mechanical or electronic records for such period produced by devices permitted under Section 21;
(g) "driver" means a person who drives a commercial vehicle on the highway;
(h) "driving time" means the period of time that a driver is at the controls of a commercial vehicle being driven on a highway;
(i) "duty status" means, in respect of a driver, any of the following periods, namely:
(i) off-duty time, other than off-duty time spent in a sleeper berth,
(ii) driving time, or
(iii) on-duty time, other than driving time;
(j) "emergency vehicle" means
(i) a road service vehicle engaged in snow removal or ice control operated by or on behalf of a government agency,
(ii) a vehicle operated by or on behalf of a police force, a fire department or ambulance,
(iii) a vehicle operated by or on behalf of a public utility when performing emergency repair services.
(k) "home terminal" means the place of business of a carrier where the driver normally reports for work;
(l) "inspector" means motor vehicle inspector;
(m) "out of service" means the status of a driver who is in violation of the limits set forth in these regulations with respect to driving time or hours on duty;
(n) "recreation vehicle" means a vehicle designed as mobile accommodation and used as transportation for personal and recreational purposes without compensation and includes but is not limited to a cabin trailer, collapsible cabin trailer, tent trailer and camping trailer;
(o) "sleeper berth" means sleeping accommodation provided in a commercial vehicle which is designed, constructed and maintained in accordance with good industrial practice;
(p) "twenty-four hour period" means a period of any twenty-four consecutive hours beginning at the time designated by the carrier for the terminal from which a driver is normally dispatched;
(q) "urban transit service" means a bus used for passenger service within a municipality or within 25 kilometres of the boundary of the municipality.
(2) Any reference in these regulations to a number of consecutive days means a number of consecutive days beginning on any day and at the time designated by the carrier for a twenty-four hour period.
2 These regulations do not apply to a person while driving the following:
(a) any two or three-axle commercial vehicle that is used for the transportation of feed grain, or of primary products of a farm, forest, sea or lake, provided the person or the person's employer is the producer of such products;
(b) an emergency vehicle;
(c) a commercial vehicle transporting passengers or goods with the object of providing relief in the case of an earthquake, flood, fire, famine, drought, epidemic, pestilence or other disaster;
(d) a recreation vehicle; or
(e) urban transit service.
3 The hours on duty of a driver include the time spent by the driver
(a) inspecting, servicing, repairing, conditioning or starting a commercial vehicle;
(b) driving a commercial vehicle;
(c) travelling as one of two drivers, except the off-duty time the driver spends resting in the sleeper berth in a commercial vehicle;
(d) participating in the loading or unloading of a commercial vehicle;
(e) inspecting or checking the load of a commercial vehicle;
(f) waiting, at the request of the carrier, for the driver's commercial vehicle to be serviced, loaded or unloaded;
(g) waiting for the driver's commercial vehicle or load to be checked at a customs or weighing check point;
(h) travelling as a passenger in a motor vehicle, at the request of the carrier, to a work assignment that will begin before he has had eight consecutive hours off duty;
(i) waiting at an en route point because of an accident or other unplanned event; or
(j) performing any other work in the capacity of or employ of a carrier or any other work for the purpose of gain.
Clause 3(j) amended: O.I.C. 93-709, N.S. Reg. 119/93.
4 (1) Subject to Section 5 and Sections 8 to 12 inclusive, a carrier shall not permit a driver to drive and a driver shall not drive
(a) more than thirteen hours following at least eight consecutive hours off duty;
(b) after being on duty fifteen hours following at least eight consecutive hours off duty;
(c) after completing sixty hours on duty during any period of seven consecutive days;
(d) after completing seventy hours on duty during any period of eight consecutive days; or
(e) after completing one hundred and twenty hours on duty during any period of fourteen consecutive days.
(2) For the purpose of applying clause (e) of subsection (1), a driver shall be off duty for a minimum twenty-four hour period any time prior to accumulating seventy-five hours on duty.
5 (1) Once in every seven consecutive days the number of hours off duty that a driver shall have immediately prior to driving may be reduced to not less than four consecutive hours if the total number of hours off duty prior to commencing the next period is not less than eight hours plus the number of hours by which the driver's hours off duty was reduced.
(2) The number of occasions during any period of seven days when the driver does not have at least eight consecutive hours off duty prior to driving shall not exceed one.
6 Notwithstanding subsection (1) of Section 5, where a motor vehicle inspector is of the opinion that a reduction in the number of hours off duty permitted by subsection (1) of Section 5 is jeopardizing or likely to jeopardize the safety or health of a driver, the inspector may direct that the driver have a specified number of hours off duty immediately prior to driving.
7 A driver of a commercial vehicle equipped with a sleeper berth may accumulate the eight consecutive hours off duty in two periods of rest if neither of those periods is less than two hours provided that the aggregate of the driving time immediately preceding and immediately following a sleeper berth rest period does not exceed thirteen hours in total.
8 (1) The Registrar may, upon application in writing by a carrier, issue a permit extending any of the limitations set out in subsection (1) of Section 4 and the permit shall have effect for a period not exceeding one year.
(2) In issuing a permit under subsection (1) the Registrar may consider any factors he considers relevant with respect to the carrier's need for a permit and may impose such conditions as he considers necessary to ensure that the issue of the permit will not jeopardize the safety or health of any person.
(3) The Registrar may, for cause, suspend a permit issued under subsection (1).
9 Any motor vehicle inspector may notify and declare any driver out of service whom the inspector finds to have driven a commercial vehicle for longer than the maximum period permitted under these regulations.
10 No carrier may permit a driver who has been declared out of service to drive any commercial vehicle and no driver who has been declared out of service may drive a commercial vehicle until the requirements of these regulations are met.
11 A driver may, in the case of an emergency, exceed the driving time and total hours on duty set out in Section 4 in order to complete a trip or to reach a place offering safety for vehicle occupants and security for the vehicle and its cargo.
12 A driver may in the case of adverse driving conditions exceed the driving time and total hours on duty by not more than two additional hours only if the normal trip could be completed within the driving time permitted by these regulations.
Daily logs
13 Subject to Section 21, every driver shall, for each twenty-four hour period, maintain a daily log in duplicate and every carrier shall ensure that each driver employed by the carrier maintains a daily log in duplicate each day.
14 The daily log referred to in Section 13 shall include the following information:
(a) date;
(b) driver's name;
(c) odometer reading;
(d) total distance driven per twenty-four hour period;
(e) truck, bus or tractor number plate or unit number;
(f) trailer number plate or unit number;
(g) name of carrier;
(h) signature of driver;
(i) name of co-driver;
(j) twenty-four hour period starting time, if different from 12:00 o'clock midnight;
(k) main office address for each carrier; and
(l) total hours in each duty status.
15 A graph grid in the form laid out in Schedule I shall be incorporated into a handwritten daily log and be completed for each driver's daily log in accordance with the following procedures:
(a) a continuous line shall be drawn between the appropriate time markers for each twenty-four hour period on the graph grid, recording the periods of time when the driver is off duty, in a sleeper berth, on duty not driving, and driving;
(b) the name of the city, town, village or highway location and province or state where each change of duty occurs shall be recorded; and
(c) the total hours in each duty status shall be entered to the right of the graph grid and the total of such entries shall equal twenty-four hours.
16 Where the driver is issued fuel receipts, bills of lading, shipping documents and accommodation receipts during a current trip, the driver shall retain them and produce them for inspection on the demand of an inspector.
17 No carrier shall operate or permit a driver to drive a commercial vehicle and no driver shall have a commercial vehicle unless the driver has in his possession,
(a) copies of his daily logs for the preceding seven consecutive days; or
(b) if operating in compliance with clause (e) of subsection (1) of Section 4, copies of the driver's daily logs for the previous fourteen consecutive days; and
(c) the driver's current daily log completed to the time for which the last change in duty status occurred.
18 The information set out in Section 14, except for clauses (d) and (l) of subsection (3) thereof, shall be completed by the driver prior to the commencement of driving and the information in clauses (d) and (l) on completion of work.
19 A driver shall be exempt from maintaining a daily log while driving a commercial vehicle not destined beyond a radius of 160 kilometres from the location at which the driver reported to work if the driver returned to that location and was released from work within fifteen hours and the carrier maintains and retains for a period of six months accurate records for the following:
(a) the time the driver reports for work each day;
(b) the total number of hours the driver is on duty each day; and
(c) the time the driver is released from duty each day.
20 Every driver who is normally exempt under Section 19 from maintaining a daily log shall, when the driver is driving a commercial vehicle in circumstances where the driver is required to make a daily log, enter in the log the total hours on duty for the period of seven consecutive days preceding the day on which the driver is required to make a daily log.
21 A driver may use an electronic or mechanical trip device for recording the driver's hours of work if
(a) the driver has in his possession true copies of his daily logs for the preceding seven, eight or fourteen consecutive days, which logs may consist of information stored in and retrievable from the automatic on-board recording device, handwritten or computer-generated logs or any combination thereof;
(b) the device is capable of displaying
(i) hours of driving and hours on duty for each day the device is being used,
(ii) available on duty hours remaining in the seven, eight or fourteen consecutive days depending on which is applicable or total hours on duty accumulated for the seven, eight or fourteen consecutive days, whichever is applicable, and
(iii) the sequential changes in duty status and the times the changes occur for each day the device is being used;
(c) the driver is capable of preparing a daily log containing the information required under Section 15 from the device for each day of the seven or fourteen consecutive days, whichever is applicable;
(d) the system automatically records time and movement for the commercial vehicle;
(e) the device automatically records time and movement for the commercial vehicle;
(f) all hard copies of the daily logs are signed by the driver certifying the information to be true and correct; and
(g) the carrier and driver shall have daily log forms available in the commercial vehicle for the driver's use in preparing daily logs.
22 Every driver shall, where the driver's services are utilized by more than one carrier during a calendar day, forward as soon as is reasonably practicable to each of the carriers for whom the driver worked that day a copy of his daily log.
23 Every driver shall, within twenty days of working as a commercial vehicle driver, forward the original of each daily log for that week to his home terminal or to the principal place of business in Nova Scotia of the carrier for whom the driver worked.
Section 23 amended: O.I.C. 1999-490, N.S. Reg. 102/99.
24 (1) Every carrier shall ensure that all daily logs and supporting documentation are kept for a period of not less than six months and are readily available for inspection upon request by an inspector at the carrier's principal place of business in Nova Scotia.
Subsection 24(1) amended: O.I.C. 1999-490, N.S. Reg. 102/99.
(2) The Registrar or motor vehicle inspector may enter a carrier's terminal or commercial vehicle for the purpose of examining records which are required to be kept by these regulations.
(3) No person shall refuse to allow the Registrar or a motor vehicle inspector access to any records, books or documents required by these regulations or to produce them for inspection when requested to do so.
25 Daily logs kept pursuant to Section 24 may be retained at the home terminal of the driver who submitted them for not more than thirty days and shall then be forwarded for retention to the carrier's principal place of business in Nova Scotia.
Section 25 amended: O.I.C. 1999-490, N.S. Reg. 102/99.
26 (1) No driver shall maintain more than one daily log in respect of a day.
(2) No carrier or driver shall falsify a daily log or any information that is stored in an automatic recording device or request, require or permit the daily log or the information to be falsified, nor shall a motor carrier or driver falsify any supporting documents or other information required by these regulations.
27 (1) The Registrar or inspector may, without warrant, seize documents or records required by these regulations and may use same as evidence for any administrative or judicial hearing and shall provide a receipt in the form prescribed by Schedule II to the person from whom they were seized.
(2) When a seizure is made pursuant to subsection (1), the Registrar or an inspector shall, within fourteen days, supply the person from whom the seizure was made or an employee of the company, with a complete copy of the documents or records or return the seized documents or records.
Penalties
28 (1) Any person who violates any of the provisions of Sections 4, 13 or clause (c) of Section 17 of these regulations shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to a penalty of not less than fifty dollars.
(2) Any person who violates any of the provisions of clauses (a) or (b) of Section 17 of these regulations shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to a penalty of not less than one hundred dollars.
(3) Any person who violates any of the provisions of Section 16, clause (f) of Section 21 or Section 26 of these regulations shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to a penalty of not less than two hundred dollars.
(4) Any person who violates any of the provisions of these regulations in respect of which a penalty for the offence is not in these regulations specially provided, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to a penalty of not less than thirty-five dollars.
[The graph grid is not available in this format, for more information or to obtain a hard copy, please contact the
It is hereby acknowledged that, pursuant to Section 27(1) of the Commercial Vehicles Drivers Hours of Work Regulations, the following daily logs and supporting documents were seized from
____________________________________________________________________________________
(name of person from whom seizure was made)
at ____________________________________________________________________________________
(number, street, municipality, province of the motor carrier)
on the _____ day of _______________, 19__.
to wit:
(Description of daily logs and supporting documents seized.)
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
Dated at ______________, this _____ day of ________, 19___.
_______________________
signature
_______________________
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