Hours of service - Saskatchewan

Application

Saskatchewan’s Commercial Vehicle Hours of Service Regulations apply to intraprovincial carriers operating commercial vehicles used for the transportation of goods or passengers and that are:

• Trucks and trailer combinations or trucks and semitrailer combinations where the gross vehicle weight stated on the certificate of registration for the trucks or towing units exceeds 5,000 kilograms; or
• Vehicles that are designed and constructed to have, and indicated by the manufacturer as having, a seating capacity of more than ten people.

The regulation does not apply to the following:

• Two- or three-axle vehicles;
• Emergency vehicles;
• Vehicles transporting goods or passengers to provide relief in the case of an earthquake, flood, fire, famine, drought, epidemic, pestilence or other disaster;
• Vehicles registered in Class F;
• Recreational vehicles; or
• Vehicle used for urban transit service.

Limitations

During the course of a day a driver must have at least eight consecutive hours of off-duty time immediately preceding the initial on-duty time. A driver may not drive a commercial vehicle unless the driver has had at least eight consecutive hours of off-duty time immediately preceding the initial on-duty time.

A driver who is driving a commercial vehicle that is equipped with a sleeper berth may accumulate the eight consecutive hours of off-duty time by having one period of rest in the sleeper berth immediately preceding the on-duty time and one period of rest in the sleeper berth immediately following that on-duty time, if:

• Neither of those rest periods is less than two hours; and
• The aggregate of the hours of driving time immediately preceding and immediately following each rest period does not exceed 13 hours.

Eight consecutive hours of off-duty time may, once in any period of seven consecutive days, be reduced to not less than four consecutive hours if:

• The driver’s immediately preceding on-duty time did not exceed 15 hours in the period; and
• The driver’s off-duty time prior to the beginning of the next period of driving is not less than the aggregate of eight hours and the number of hours by which the driver’s required hours of off-duty time were reduced.

This exception does not apply when a reduction in the number of hours of off-duty time jeopardizes or is likely to jeopardize the safety or health of a driver or the public.

Drivers may not drive a commercial vehicle:

• For more than 13 hours following at least eight consecutive hours of off-duty time; or
• Immediately after completing 15 hours of on-duty time.

Driving Extensions

In an emergency, a driver may exceed the driving times and on-duty times in order to complete a trip or to reach a destination that provides safety for the commercial vehicle occupants and for other users of the road or provides security for the commercial vehicle and its load.

In cases of adverse driving conditions, a driver may exceed the driving times and on-duty times by not more than two hours where the trip would have been completed under normal driving conditions within the driving times and on-duty times.

Recordkeeping

Every driver must keep and maintain a daily log for each day the driver:

• Spends as on-duty time; or
• Spends as on-duty time for a carrier.

Every driver required to keep and maintain a daily log shall ensure that the daily log is legible and contains:

• Name of the driver, printed in block letters, whose on-duty time, driving-related duty time, driving time and off-duty time is recorded in the daily log;
• Date on which the driver begins any on-duty time during which he/she drives a commercial vehicle;
• Where the time is not midnight, the time the day starts;
• For every period of driving every commercial vehicle driven by the driver during the day, the odometer reading of the commercial vehicle at the time the driver commences any period of driving the commercial vehicle;
• Total distance driven by the driver during the day;
• For every commercial vehicle driven by the driver on that day:
  • Plate number indicated on the certificate of registration and licence plates for the commercial vehicle;
  • Number of the registration permit for the commercial vehicle; or
  • Unit number assigned to the commercial vehicle by the carrier;
• Name of every carrier that employed the driver during the day;
• Name of any co-driver, printed in block letters;
• Home terminal address or principal place of business of every carrier that employed the driver during the day;
• Total hours during the day spent by the driver as off-duty time, in the sleeper berth, as driving time, and on-duty time; and
• A graph grid completed by the driver indicating the periods during the day spent by the driver as off-duty time, in the sleeper berth, as driving time, and on-duty time.

A driver who keeps and maintains a daily log must enter the information required at the start of the day when the driver begins on-duty time and as required until it is complete. The driver must sign the daily log and certify that the information contained in the daily log is accurate.

Every driver who receives supporting documents must retain the supporting documents to substantiate the information set out in a daily log until they are forwarded to the home terminal of the carrier

Automatic Recording Devices

A driver may use an automatic recording device to record the periods that the driver spent performing driving-related duty, as driving time, as on-duty time or as off-duty time for the purposes of keeping and maintaining a daily log if:

• The driver is capable of producing a manually prepared daily log from the information stored in the device for each day during which the device is used;
• The device is capable of electronically displaying:
  • The periods spent by the driver on duty, performing driving-related duty, as driving time, as on-duty time and as off-duty time for each day during which the device is used; and
  • The sequence of the changes in a driver’s duty status and the times when the changes occurred for each day during which the device is used;
• The device automatically records and indicates when the device has been disconnected;
• The device automatically records the times when the commercial vehicle is moving;
• All hard copies of daily logs that are generated from the information that is stored in the automatic recording device are signed by the driver certifying that the information contained on the hard copy is accurate; and
• The carrier provides daily log books in the commercial vehicle for the driver to keep, maintain and prepare daily logs manually.

Recordkeeping Exemptions

The log keeping requirements do not apply to a carrier that employs a driver:

• Who operates a commercial vehicle within a maximum radius of 160 kilometres from the home terminal of the carrier;
• Whose on-duty time does not exceed 15 consecutive hours and begins and ends at the home terminal of the carrier; and
• With respect to whom the carrier maintains and retains accurate records of all the on-duty time of the driver for the preceding six months.

Record Distribution

Every driver who keeps and maintains a daily log must, within 20 days after completing a daily log, forward the original daily log and any supporting documents to the home terminal of the carrier that employed the driver. If the driver is employed by more than one carrier in a day, the driver must, within 20 days of completing a daily log, forward a copy of the daily log and supporting documents to the home terminal of every carrier that employed the driver.

Every carrier is required to keep and maintain the daily log and supporting documents at the principal place of business of the carrier that were forwarded to the carrier for a period of at least six months.

Enforcement

Saskatchewan is enforcing the federal hours of service regulations on interprovincial carriers. Refer to the federal hours of service regulations for more information.

Intraprovicial carriers can continue to operate under Saskatchewan’s intraprovincial hours of service regulations described above.

Law

Highway and Transportation Act, 1997, Section 69

Regulation

The Commercial Vehicle Hours of Service Regulations