Canadian
transportation authorities officially proposed a new federal hours-of-service
regulation for Canadian truck and bus drivers, building on an endorsed
standard announced last fall by federal and provincial transport ministers.
Last September,
a council of federal and provincial transport ministers approved changes
to the country’s National Safety Code to give drivers more opportunity
to rest and to make the rules simpler to grasp.
According
to Canadian press accounts, the industry's largest trade union, the Teamsters,
and its largest lobby group, the Canadian Trucking Alliance, support the
changes. Government transport officials say they want the new rules to
take effect sometime this fall.
The regulation
would restrict drivers to 14 hours on duty (13 hours driving) followed
by 10 hours off during a 24-hour period. At least eight of these off-duty
hours would have to be taken consecutively, with the additional two hours
to be taken in increments of no less than a half hour.
Other changes:
- Eliminate
the option to reduce the off-duty time from eight hours to four hours;
- Increase
the minimum rest for co-drivers using a sleeper berth from two hours
to four consecutive hours;
- Allow
the averaging of on-duty and off-duty time over a 48-hour period; and
- Cut
the number of available work/rest cycles from three to two: a maximum
70-hour cycle over seven days and a maximum 120-hour cycle over 14 days.
Drivers
who want to switch or reset cycles would need to take at least 36 consecutive
hours off duty before "resetting the clock to zero" for the 70-hour
cycle, and at least 72 consecutive hours off for the 120-hour cycle. At
least once every 14 days, all drivers would be required to take at least
24 hours off.
Comments
on the proposed regulation are being accepted over the next 60 days.
