firstly sorry if these questions are elsewhere,i have 2 questions regarding the drivers hours as a soon to be new driver i know a fair bit about the drivers hours but these 2 questions are really for my own piece of mind more than anything else and maybe they will help other people who might not know.
Q1)if you are caught in a traffic jam which is quite a bad one whereby either the road as been shut due to an accident or because of sheer volume of traffic you are just not moving how does this" affect" your driving time because technically you are not driving,do you change your tacho to something other than driving or do you have to leave it on driving time.
Q2)i know that after you have been driving for a period of 4.5 hours you have to take a break of 45 mins but how does it work if within those 4.5 hours you have been loading or unloading,does your tacho stay on driving whilst you load or unload or would you change it to something else so that you can get the maximum amount of driving time without breaking the law.
i have a pretty good idea of the answers to my questions but i would like to be 100% sure and i know there are a lot of experienced drivers on here who will know the exact answer,thanks…
mark41:
Q1)if you are caught in a traffic jam which is quite a bad one whereby either the road as been shut due to an accident or because of sheer volume of traffic you are just not moving how does this" affect" your driving time because technically you are not driving,do you change your tacho to something other than driving or do you have to leave it on driving time.
Digi and analogue will record this differently.
I’ll do digi cos it’s easier
Leave on driving mode
Whatever the driving time says on the digi is the one for the regs
Being behind the wheel is considered driving by the authorites but not for the regs
I think analogue will be on ‘other work’ anyway so will record the non driving bits as such - have fun in working the driving time out from the tiny little bits of driving on it !!!
Wait for a GURU to confirm or refute what I’ve said above
mark41:
Q2)i know that after you have been driving for a period of 4.5 hours you have to take a break of 45 mins but how does it work if within those 4.5 hours you have been loading or unloading,does your tacho stay on driving whilst you load or unload or would you change it to something else so that you can get the maximum amount of driving time without breaking the law.
It is ACCUMULATED driving time - not necessarily from when you started driving.
Work 30 mins
Drive 3 hours
work 30 mins
Drive 1 hour and 30 mins
Break 45 mins
LEGAL
mark41:
Q1)if you are caught in a traffic jam which is quite a bad one whereby either the road as been shut due to an accident or because of sheer volume of traffic you are just not moving how does this" affect" your driving time because technically you are not driving,do you change your tacho to something other than driving or do you have to leave it on driving time.
Unless you’re using an old tachograph there won’t be a driving position for the mode switch (see answer to Q2), leave it on “other work” unless you know that you won’t be moving for some time and decide to have a break whilst waiting.
mark41:
Q2)i know that after you have been driving for a period of 4.5 hours you have to take a break of 45 mins but how does it work if within those 4.5 hours you have been loading or unloading,does your tacho stay on driving whilst you load or unload or would you change it to something else so that you can get the maximum amount of driving time without breaking the law.
Loading or unloading doesn’t count as driving it counts as “other work”.
If you drive for 2 hours then load/unload for 1.5 hours, then you drive for 2.5 hours, you’ve completed 4.5 hours driving and must now have a break of 45 minutes, it’s only actual accumulated driving time that counts as “driving time” for the driving break requirements.
With modern tachographs you switch to “other work” mode (cross hammers) when you start work and it will automatically change to driving mode when the vehicle moves, when the vehicle stops moving the tachograph will automatically change back to “other work” so the only time you should need to change modes is when having a break.
However:
Some digital tachographs automatically change to “rest/break” when the ignition is switched off so you need to change back to “other work” every time the ignition is switched off unless you’re having a break.
mark41:
i have a pretty good idea of the answers to my questions but i would like to be 100% sure and i know there are a lot of experienced drivers on here who will know the exact answer,thanks…
It’s always best to be sure where the regulations are concerned
Unforeseen events
Provided that road safety is not jeopardised, and to enable a driver to reach a suitable stopping place, a departure from the EU rules may be permitted to the extent necessary to ensure the safety of persons, the vehicle or its load. Drivers must note all the reasons for doing so on the back of their tachograph record sheets (if using an analogue tachograph) or on a printout or temporary sheet (if using a digital tachograph) at the latest on reaching the suitable stopping place (see relevant sections covering manual entries). Repeated and regular occurrences, however, might indicate to enforcement officers that employers were not in fact scheduling work to enable compliance with the applicable rules.
A judgment by the European Court of Justice dated 9 November 1995 provides a useful guide to how this provision should be interpreted. It can apply only in cases where it unexpectedly becomes impossible to comply with the rules on drivers’ hours during the course of a journey. In other words, planned breaches of the rules are not allowed. This means that when an unforeseen event occurs, it would be for the driver to decide whether it was necessary to depart from the rules. In doing so, a driver would have to take into account the need to ensure road safety in the process (e.g. when driving a vehicle carrying an abnormal load under the Special Types regulations) and any instruction that may be given by an enforcement officer (e.g. when under police ■■■■■■).
SECTION 1: EU rules on drivers’ hours