A day in the life of a truck driver

3 November 2022

Working time

Contrary to what you may think, the driver's working time is not only the period spent driving. We include all activities related to road freight transport. These are:

• Activities related to freight forwarding,
• Daily maintenance of the vehicle and trailers,
• Necessary formalities,
• Loading, unloading, as well as supervision over loading and unloading carried out by third parties,
• Adequate protection of the goods

The maximum driving time in one 24-hour period must not be exceeded and is always 9 hours. An exception is when a driver may extend the driving time by one hour. However, this is only possible twice a week, and any longer driving time must be preceded by a 45 minute pause.

It often happens, however, that the driver has to perform any of the above-mentioned activities within the prescribed working time, as a result of which he does not drive the vehicle for several hours in a row. When carrying out non-driving activities, the employee may not exceed 6 hours. After this time, he is obliged to take a 45-minute break.

The working time of the driver also includes the time spent on standby. This refers to waiting for unloading and loading, when the duration was not precisely planned prior to starting work.

Break time

What about breaks? A driver cannot drive uninterrupted for more than 4.5 hours without taking a break. After this time, the driver must stop to rest. The break time is set at a minimum of 45 minutes, but it is possible to divide the break time according to needs.

Rest time

In addition to working time, the employee is entitled to a daily rest period of at least 11 hours. A second option is a shortened rest period, but this must still last for at least 9 hours. As with breaks, the driver can divide the rest period into two parts, in this case: 3 hours + 9 hours.

Accounting of the driver’s working time

People in the position of professional drivers are accounted for their work on a daily and weekly basis, of which the daily pay period may not exceed 24 hours.

The weekly driving time assumes that the working week starts at 00:00 on Monday and ends at 24:00 on Sunday. The driver will not travel more than 56 hours, spending 8 hours a day in the vehicle. In between driving, the employee will take a clearly defined amount of rest time.

The fortnightly driving time, on the other hand, specifies that an employee who has already driven the 56-hour driving limit in the first week, may only drive 34 hours in the second week.

To keep the employee and other road users safe, it is of great importance to stick to the amount of time allocated for both rest and work time.

If you are interested in a job as a professional driver, you can find our current job offers on the website under the ‘vacancies’ tab.