Having got my head around the hours like a fool I bought myself a cheap smartphone and downloaded the app and am now confused again.
Firstly what is the wtd shift breaks which starts counting down at 8 hours 45 minutes?
Problem is that tacho counts up to limits the app counts down.
Can’t help thinking it just adds to the confusion. More buttons to press.
Does anyone use this and benefit from it?
Personally I wouldn’t bother with those apps. You have to make sure its on the right mode every time otherwise it will mess up. When managing your WTD hours, just do it in 6 hour blocks. So if you start at 8am then you’ll need a 15 minute break before 1pm. If you remember what time you started and roughly what time your last break ended then its pretty easy to manage.
Why would you need to take a break before 1pm? Surely your 6 hours wouldn’t be exceeded until 2pm? Maybe you need to use the calculator App on your smartphone…?
Roymondo:
Why would you need to take a break before 1pm? Surely your 6 hours wouldn’t be exceeded until 2pm? Maybe you need to use the calculator App on your smartphone…?
I got that time wrong, if you start at 7am then you need a break before 1pm.
Radar19:
Personally I wouldn’t bother with those apps.
I’m the opposite, I love my Trucker Timer app. I switch from office work to trucking work so a lot of my working week isn’t recorded on my tacho card. The app allows me to keep my non-driving hours up to date, as well as warning me as I approach fatigue limits in the truck. It has a better understanding of the regs than I do, so it is handy to keep an eye on what I’m doing.
Does anyone know why it is counting down 8 hours 45 minutes saying it is a wtd shift break? Is this the 15 minutes needed if you work between 6 and 9 hours? Does it handle the 15 minutes after 9 hours?
JS8576:
Does anyone know why it is counting down 8 hours 45 minutes saying it is a wtd shift break? Is this the 15 minutes needed if you work between 6 and 9 hours? Does it handle the 15 minutes after 9 hours?
If you work between 6 and 9 hours you need a break of 30 minutes (or two of at least 15 minutes each). You can take this break/these breaks at any time during your shift as long as you don’t work more than 6 hours without a break of at least 15 minutes.
I would suggest you contact the App’s author (email address in the “About” screen within the App) and ask him what that “WTD shift break” means.
I use the app and all I have showing is
Continuous Driving Limit
WTD limit (6hrs one)
Daily Driving Limit
Daily Rest Due
Weekly Driving Limit
These are the ones I’m interested in, rest are pointless and no concern to me so off they went
I use the app and all I have showing is
Continuous Driving Limit
WTD limit (6hrs one)
Daily Driving Limit
Daily Rest Due
Weekly Driving Limit
Fortnightly driving limit might be useful but I suppose depends on whether you ever get near those limits. WTD weekly working limit as well.
No one on the experienced driver forum knows what the hell this shift break is either. Shocked as I got the impression it might be popular with LGV drivers but looks like few are using it. Maybe once I get to use a tacho for first time might feel don’t need the added complexity of pressing more buttons (and forgetting to press buttons) causing even more problems.
Cowboys in America don’t respond to emails.
Like Tachograph said he had it once and uninstalled it which says it all really. [Hope he doesn’t mind me saying that as was a PM].
Bear in mind it’s just an aid app. It has no legal standing so when I use it it’s purely for my own records. My digicard holds everything legal I need.
It’s just nice to have it up to keep a quick eye on timers rather than fiddle with tachograph tidgy screen [emoji57]
Do you try to press buttons at same time or do you give yourself a margin of error by doing one before the other?
I don’t press anything. It’s set up to change depending on whether I’m moving or not. Only time I change that is if onto a break and even then I can adjust via log to match to minute same as tacho records. As I’ve said it’s an aid but I have found it actually quite accurate as a personal log
Your using it with the GPS on. I would probably use it without see how it goes before I decide whether to keep it or not.
Thanks dcgpx, it all helps.
Well, after a lot of head scratching I think I have finally worked out what the WTD shift breaks are.
The app designer has made a mistake. It appears like many people (maybe many who should no better who teach this stuff) seem to think you need a 15 minute break before you hit the 9 hour mark. This is why the timer starts counting down on first use at 8 h 45 m.
The app also seems to get confused after the 9 hour point. You might for example be told that you’ve got an hour before the 6 hour rule is violated but also told you’ve got less than that before the WTD shift breaks is violated.
Unless I am still confused myself (maybe tachograph or rog) can clear this up once and for all as I have seen a website of company who teaches drivers hours who don’t seem to understand the rule:
You need to make sure you don’t work more than 6 hours at a stretch at any time during shift without taking a 15 minute break. If your total hours worked are between 6 and 9 hours you don’t need a break literally in between those hours. The break can be before or after as long as the 6 hour rule is not violated. Same with working over 9 hours. You need another 15 minutes but it does not necessarily have to be taken after the 9 hours if the 6 hour rule is not violated.
Hope I’ve got that right.
Without getting shot down, I’ve sort of given up on WTD, no one really seems to care about it.
Way I do it just to pay it some sort of service is :
Have a 15 a few hours after starting shift, usually just to boil kettle and have cereal.
Then carry on and have a 30 when I reach 4hrs driving or there abouts and that’s now my dinner break. That way I’ve reset my driving and satisfied WTD no matter if I go to a long day.
Works for me as I very very very rarely go to a 12hr shift so the second 6hr problem doesn’t exist for me as by time I’ve got to the 30min break for driving it’s usually about 1pm anyway. I prefer a later dinner as not to wonder if room at any services I may pass.
In short I concentrate on my driving hours and not WTD but in large by default my way of having breaks satisfies both.
Scrap WTD and just have the one set of rules!