Canada's ministers responsible for transportation and highway safety have approved a new, modernized national standard governing the hours that truck and bus drivers can work.
News of the decision was hailed by David Bradley, chief executive officer of the Canadian Trucking Alliance, as “a brave and innovative step forward in improving highway safety.”
These new rules will introduce new daily and weekly driving and work limits and increase minimum daily rest periods for commercial drivers. Maximum driving time is being reduced from 16 to 13 hours per day.
Current regulations allow truck drivers to work up to 104 hours a week, but the new rules will require drivers to shut down for a minimum of 36 hours once they reach 70 hours on-duty. Minimum daily rest periods will be increased by 25% from eight to 10 hours.
The rules, which also have the support of the Teamsters trade union, were developed over a 10-year period.