Driving and rest time rules (EU/EEA tachograph regulation)
Regulation 561/2006 is applied in Norway, and the exam tests both the arithmetic and the classification of time as driving, other work, availability or rest.
The limits
- Break: after 4.5 h driving, take 45 min, splittable into 15 min then 30 min.
- Daily driving: 9 h, extendable to 10 h twice between weekly rests.
- Weekly driving: 56 h; any two consecutive weeks: 90 h.
- Daily rest: 11 h, reducible to 9 h up to three times between weekly rests.
- Weekly rest: 45 h, reducible to 24 h with the shortfall compensated en bloc before the end of the third following week.
Recording
Use the driver card in the digital tachograph, make manual entries for work away from the vehicle, and be able to show the current day plus the previous 28 days. Loading, unloading, paperwork and vehicle checks are other work, not break.
Ferries and waiting
Time on a ferry can count as break or rest if you are relieved of all duty. Queueing to board does not qualify.
Worked example
You start at 06:00, drive 2 h, take 15 min, drive 2.5 h, take 30 min, drive 2 h. Total driving 6.5 h, inside the 9 h daily limit. Had the second stop been only 15 min, continuing after 4.5 h of driving would be an infringement, because the split must be 15 then 30.
Traps that cost marks
- Counting a single 15-minute stop as a full break.
- Booking break while supervising unloading.
- Forgetting to compensate a reduced weekly rest.