Australian Capital Territory Current Acts

HEAVY VEHICLE NATIONAL LAW (ACT) - SECT 247

When counting time in a period, the time must not be counted from within rest time, but instead must be counted forward from—

        (a)     if 1 or more major rest breaks are relevant to the period—the end of a relevant major rest break; or

        (b)     in any other case—the end of a relevant period of rest time.

Example—

An authorised officer intercepts the driver of a fatigue-regulated heavy vehicle on a Friday and inspects the driver's work diary. The driver operates under standard hours. The officer examines the work diary entries for the previous Monday. The entries show that the driver completed 7 continuous hours of stationary rest time at 6.30a.m. on that day, started work at that time, worked until 11a.m. that day, had 45 minutes of rest time, worked until 5.00p.m. that day, then had stationary rest time until 4.30a.m. on the following day, Tuesday, and then worked until 6.30a.m. on that day.

In order to determine the total number of hours worked by the driver in a 24 hour period starting on the Monday, then in accordance with section 247 (a) the officer must commence counting from the end of the relevant major rest break, which in this case is from 6.30a.m. on the Monday until 6.30a.m. on the Tuesday. Adding up the driver's work periods - 6.30a.m. to 11a.m., 11.45a.m. to 5.00p.m. and 4.30a.m. to 6.30a.m. - results in a total of 11¾ hours worked in the 24 hour period.

The officer might also decide to assess whether the driver has complied with his or her maximum work and minimum rest requirements for the same 24 hour period.

For instance, in any period of 5½ hours, a driver must not work for more than 5¼ hours and must have at least 15 minutes continuous rest when operating under standard hours. To assess whether the driver has complied with this requirement, then in accordance with section 247 (b) the officer must commence counting only from the end of a period of rest - from either 6.30a.m. or 11.45a.m. on the Monday, or from 4.30a.m. on the Tuesday. If the officer commenced counting at the end of the rest time that finished at 11.45a.m., the officer would see that the driver had worked for 5¼ continuous hours before commencing rest.

For the purposes of determining whether on Monday the driver had a minimum of 7 continuous hours stationary rest in a 24 hour period as required under standard hours, the officer must assess the length of the periods of stationary rest time the driver had between the end of the major rest break that finished at 6.30a.m. on the Monday and 6.30a.m. on the Tuesday. The officer sees that between 5.00p.m. on the Monday and 4.30a.m. on the Tuesday the driver had a total of 11½ continuous hours of stationary rest time.