Working Time, Rest Periods and Tachograph Rules
Domain 6 tests ARV 1 (SR 822.111) and the tachograph. It applies to professional drivers of heavy passenger vehicles; cross-border journeys also fall under AETR/EU rules, which ARV 1 closely mirrors.
Driving and rest
- Daily driving time: 9 hours, extendable to 10 hours at most twice a week.
- Weekly driving: 56 hours; two consecutive weeks: 90 hours.
- Break: after 4.5 hours of driving at least 45 minutes, splittable into at least 15 minutes followed by at least 30 minutes.
- Daily rest: 11 hours, reducible to 9 hours at most three times between weekly rests; weekly rest 45 hours, reducible with compensation.
- Other work and availability are not rest: loading, cleaning and paperwork count as working time.
Tachograph
- The digital card is personal; insert it before driving and switch modes correctly (driving, other work, availability, rest).
- Make manual entries for unrecorded time; keep 28 days of records; download the driver card every 28 days and the vehicle unit every 90 days.
- Analogue records, where still used, must be kept in order and handed in as required.
Worked example
An excursion driver drives 2 h, takes a 20-minute break, then drives 2 h 30. Total driving since the last qualifying break is 4 h 30, so he must stop. The 20 minutes counts as the first part of a split break (at least 15 minutes), so he now needs a further 30 minutes before driving again. A 15-minute coffee break would not be enough.
Traps that cost marks
- Counting a 20-minute pause as a full 45-minute break.
- Recording rest while loading luggage.
- Using the 10-hour extension more than twice a week.
- Forgetting manual entries and leaving gaps on the card.
- Assuming short regular services are automatically exempt - check ARV 1 Art. 3.