Hours of Service Rules in Canada: Limits, Cycles & the Law

Driver fatigue is recognized in Canada and internationally as a critical risk factor in motor vehicle crashes 5. To keep fatigued drivers off the road, Canada limits commercial driving time through the federal Commercial Vehicle Drivers Hours of Service Regulations (SOR/2005-313) and matching provincial rules.

Under Canada's federal Hours of Service rules (south of 60°N), a commercial driver may drive at most 13 hours a day, must stop driving after 14 hours on duty, and must take at least 10 hours off duty every day, including 8 consecutive hours. North of 60°N the limits differ, and two cycles forbid driving after 70 hours on duty in 7 days or 120 hours on duty in 14 days.

This guide covers the daily limits and the 16-hour window, how the cycles and resets work, sleeper-berth splits, the rules north of 60°N, exemptions, what the ELD mandate changed, and who is responsible for training.

What are Hours of Service (HOS)?

Hours of Service are federal and provincial regulations that govern the maximum amount of time commercial drivers can drive and how much rest they are required to take. These rules aim to prevent fatigue-related crashes by ensuring that drivers do not work excessively long hours without adequate sleep.

Compliance with the federal limits 1 is recorded in the driver's logbook, the record of duty status, kept on paper or, increasingly, on electronic logging devices (ELDs), which have been mandatory for most federally regulated carriers since June 12, 2021, with full enforcement, including penalties, since January 1, 2023 3. Several exemptions apply, and they are set out further down this page.

According to the National Safety Council, driving after being awake for more than 20 hours has the same effect as driving with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08%, the Criminal Code limit in Canada 4,6.

How many hours can a truck driver drive in Canada?

South of latitude 60°N, a truck driver in Canada may drive at most 13 hours in a day. The limit is set by the federal Commercial Vehicle Drivers Hours of Service Regulations (SOR/2005-313) 1, and two other limits run alongside it. A driver who has been on duty for 14 hours must stop driving even if fewer than 13 of those hours were spent behind the wheel. And under the 16-hour rule, driving ends once 16 hours have elapsed since the driver's last period of 8 or more consecutive hours off duty, whatever is left of the other two limits.

For example, a driver whose last 8-hour off-duty period ended at 6:00 a.m. may not drive after 10:00 p.m. that day, even with driving hours left.

How do the 70-hour and 120-hour cycles work?

Daily limits cap a single shift. Cycles work over a run of days: once a driver has accumulated the cycle's on-duty hours, no more driving is allowed. Every driver works under one of two cycles, and switching between them is not free.

Can drivers split their off-duty time in a sleeper berth?

A single driver with a sleeper berth may split the daily off-duty time into two periods, each at least 2 hours, totalling at least 10 hours. All of it must be spent resting in a sleeper berth that meets the construction standard in Schedule 1, with no more than 13 hours of driving around each rest period (s.18(1)). An 8-hour and 2-hour split is allowed in Canada. The U.S. rule for property-carrying vehicles requires one of the two periods to be at least 7 consecutive hours in the berth; the other may be off duty (49 CFR 395.1(g)(1)(ii)).

A team of drivers may split off-duty time differently again: the team may accumulate the required off-duty time in no more than two periods, neither shorter than 4 hours. The same conditions attach. All of the rest must be taken in a compliant sleeper berth. The driving time before and after each rest period must not exceed 13 hours. On-duty time must not include driving after the 14th hour, and elapsed time must not include driving after the 16th hour. None of the daily off-duty time may be deferred (s.19(1)).

What are the HOS rules north of 60°N?

North of latitude 60°N, in Yukon and the Northwest Territories, the federal limits are different: up to 15 hours of driving and 18 hours on duty before 8 consecutive hours off, within a 20-hour elapsed window (s.39(1)–(2)). Nunavut also lies north of 60°N, but Transport Canada notes that, at present, the federal Regulations do not apply in that territory 3.

Carriers running in the territories should schedule against those numbers rather than the 13- and 14-hour limits that apply in the south. The daily figures quoted everywhere else on this page are the southern ones.

Are there exemptions to the HOS rules?

The limits are not absolute. Three mechanisms allow a driver or a carrier to work outside the standard rules 1.

• Permits. The federal director may issue a special permit for a research or pilot project (s.61), and a provincial director may issue a permit allowing specific, limited deviations from the standard limits, with separate provisions for oil well service vehicles (ss.62–67).
• Emergencies. The driving, on-duty and off-duty requirements do not apply to a driver who, in an emergency, needs more driving time to reach a destination that provides safety for the people in the vehicle and for other road users, or the security of the vehicle and its load (s.76(1)).
• Adverse driving conditions. South of latitude 60°N, a driver who meets adverse conditions may extend the 13-hour driving limit and reduce the additional 2 hours of daily off-duty time. Three conditions apply. Driving, on-duty and elapsed time in the cycle are not extended by more than 2 hours. The required 8 consecutive hours off duty are still taken. And the trip could have been completed under normal conditions without the reduction. North of 60°N the same 2-hour extension applies to the 15-hour driving limit. Either way, the driver must record the reason in the record of duty status (s.76(2)–(4)).

The federal regulations apply to extra-provincial carriers. A purely intra-provincial operation follows its own province's or territory's rules instead, listed in the table further down this page.

Why do Hours of Service rules exist?

Fatigue impairs judgment, attention and reaction time in much the same way alcohol does 6. Microsleeps, brief lapses in attention lasting only a few seconds, arrive without warning and are catastrophic at highway speed 4. Off-duty time is also a health measure: constantly changing schedules cause sleep deprivation and are linked to disorders of the gastrointestinal and cardiovascular systems, and the risk is highest in long-haul and shift-based driving 7. Rested drivers make faster, better decisions in exactly the situations where a decision matters, which is why hours of service sits alongside defensive driving as a core fleet safety practice.

Non-compliance carries consequences for the driver and for the carrier. Both can be fined under federal and provincial law. A driver can be declared out of service (s.91), which takes them off the road for a set number of hours depending on the violation. Repeated violations surface in audits, damage a carrier's safety rating, and from there affect insurance and contracts. High-profile fatigue collisions also cost the industry as a whole in public trust and in tighter regulation.

How do carriers manage driver fatigue?

Fatigue management under the Hours of Service rules rests on the carrier as much as on the driver: the carrier must not request, require or allow a driver to drive past the limits (s.4(d)), and the daily and cycle limits above exist to guarantee the rest that keeps a driver alert. Training in fatigue management, recognizing the signs of drowsiness and the responsibilities of drivers and carriers, is a standard part of an Hours of Service course.

Who sets and enforces Hours of Service rules in Canada?

Transport Canada sets the federal Hours of Service rules, and provincial and territorial authorities enforce them on the road 3,5. They are made under the Motor Vehicle Transport Act and set out in the Commercial Vehicle Drivers Hours of Service Regulations (SOR/2005-313) 1. They govern maximum driving and on-duty time, required rest periods, recordkeeping, and the use of electronic logging devices.

The federal regulations apply to federally regulated motor carriers and to commercial vehicle drivers operating extra-provincially, meaning across a provincial, territorial or international border. That covers most long-haul trucking and most interprovincial or cross-border passenger transport. Intra-provincial operations are governed by provincial or territorial rules, most of which are harmonized with the federal standard.

The federal rules are Transport Canada's, but the technical standard that electronic logging devices must meet is published by the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA) and incorporated by the Regulations, and the Minister of Transport accredits the bodies that certify devices against it (ss.1, 79.1). Enforcement on the road is a different job: the federal Hours of Service rules are enforced by provincial and territorial authorities 3,5. That is why a federally regulated carrier deals with provincial inspectors at roadside while following federal limits.

The CCMTA, which brings together federal, provincial and territorial transport authorities, maintains the National Safety Code and its Standard 9 on Hours of Service 8. Canada's regulations for commercial vehicles, drivers and motor carriers are based on the National Safety Code standards 2, and Standard 9 is the instrument through which the jurisdictions keep their separate rules aligned.

Which Hours of Service legislation applies in each province and territory?

Each province and territory sets its own Hours of Service rules for intra-provincial carriers, those operating only within one jurisdiction. Most align closely with the federal model, with local variations and exemptions.

For Yukon and the Northwest Territories, keep the northern numbers in mind: north of 60°N the federal limits of 15 hours driving and 18 hours on duty within a 20-hour window apply (s.39). Nunavut is a case apart: Transport Canada notes that, at present, the federal Regulations do not apply in that territory 3.

Check with the provincial ministry of transportation or the local commercial vehicle enforcement agency for the rules and exemptions that apply to your operation.

What did the ELD mandate change in Canada's HOS rules?

Certified electronic logging devices are mandatory for federally regulated carriers, subject to the exemptions in s.77. The requirement has been in force since June 12, 2021, and penalties have been enforced since January 1, 2023 3.

An ELD records driving time automatically from the vehicle's engine, which removes the discretion that made paper logs easy to falsify. Two points matter in practice. The device must be certified by an accredited third-party body, not self-certified by the manufacturer. And the carrier, not the device vendor, remains accountable for what those records show.

What are the logbook rules in Canada?

The driver's logbook, called a daily log or record of duty status in the Regulations, is kept on paper or on a certified ELD (ss.77, 81–82). The driver must be able to produce the current day's record plus the previous 14 days of records at roadside (ss.84, 98).

Which vehicles and drivers are exempt from the ELD requirement?

Section 77 carves out several situations. A commercial vehicle does not need an ELD in four cases:

• it is being operated under a permit;
• its carrier holds an exemption issued under the Motor Vehicle Transport Act;
• it is held under a rental agreement of 30 days or less that is not an extended or renewed rental of the same vehicle;
• it was manufactured before the 2000 model year.

There is also a short-radius exception. The ELD requirements do not apply to a driver who operates within a 160-kilometre radius of the home terminal and returns to it each day to begin at least 8 consecutive hours of off-duty time, as long as the motor carrier keeps accurate records of the driver's duty status for six months (s.77(3)).

Provinces have been adopting the same requirement for intra-provincial carriers on their own timelines, so confirm the rule that applies to your operation rather than assuming the federal dates cover you. Ontario, for example, requires electronic logging devices for provincially regulated truck carriers as of June 12, 2022, and for bus carriers as of July 1, 2023 9.

Who is responsible for Hours of Service compliance?

The motor carrier carries the legal duty for Hours of Service compliance, and training is the standard way it meets that duty. Under the federal Hours of Service Regulations, a carrier must monitor every driver's compliance (s.87(1)), take immediate remedial action when it finds a violation (s.87(2)), and must not request, require or allow a driver to drive when doing so would break the rules (s.4(d)).

Those provisions do not prescribe a training course or a certificate. What they create is a compliance duty that a carrier cannot realistically discharge unless its drivers and its dispatch staff understand the rules. A carrier that cannot show its drivers were taught the limits is in a weak position during an audit, a roadside inspection or the investigation that follows a fatigue-related incident.

Hours of Service training covers the legal limits on daily and cycle driving time, and off-duty and sleeper-berth requirements. It covers how to complete and maintain daily logs on paper or through an electronic logging device, recordkeeping standards and what to expect during a roadside inspection. It also covers fatigue management: recognizing the signs of drowsiness and the strategies for staying alert. Drivers hauling dangerous goods carry separate training obligations under the dangerous goods rules, which are additional to this and not covered by it.

Who do the Hours of Service rules apply to?

The federal rules apply to drivers of commercial vehicles operated by federally regulated motor carriers. A commercial vehicle, for this purpose, is a truck, tractor or trailer, or any combination of them, with a registered gross vehicle weight over 4,500 kg, or a bus designed and constructed to have a designated seating capacity of more than 10 persons including the driver (s.1). Training is relevant to:

• Drivers of those vehicles for federally regulated motor carriers, meaning interprovincial or international transport
• Drivers of the same classes of vehicle for provincially regulated carriers, under their own province's or territory's hours of service rules
• Dispatchers, safety officers, and compliance staff involved in driver scheduling or supervision
• Anyone using or auditing ELDs in federally regulated fleets

What should drivers be taught about Hours of Service?

To complete an Hours of Service course, trainees must demonstrate knowledge of:

• Daily driving and on-duty time limits (13 hours driving, 14 hours on duty, and the 16-hour window)
• Mandatory rest periods (10 hours off duty, including 8 consecutive hours)
• Cycle limits (70 hours in 7 days or 120 hours in 14 days)
• Sleeper berth provisions
• How to complete and interpret daily logs or Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs)
• Recordkeeping requirements and roadside inspection procedures
• Fatigue management strategies and legal responsibilities for both drivers and carriers

Does the law set an expiry date for the training?

No statute sets an expiry date for an Hours of Service certificate, and the federal regulations do not establish a general HOS training certificate at all. That is not a reason to treat training as permanent. Refresher training is expected:

• when the rules change, as they did with the ELD mandate
• after a violation, a compliance issue or an incident
• during onboarding, and in any scheduled refresher program the carrier runs

Renewal intervals are a matter of carrier, insurer and auditor policy rather than regulation. Three-year refreshers are common practice, set by carriers' own training policies and their clients' contractor requirements, not by a law or a standard, and individual carriers may require more frequent renewal, particularly in higher-risk operations such as oilfield transport and long-haul trucking. Check the policy that applies to you rather than assuming a certificate stays current indefinitely.

The eSafetyFirst certificate carries a printed expiry of three years from completion; that is the program's practice, not a legal requirement.

Key takeaways

• South of 60°N: at most 13 hours driving per day, no driving after 14 hours on duty or past the 16-hour window, and at least 10 hours off duty daily, 8 of them consecutive.
• Cycles forbid driving after 70 hours on duty in 7 days or 120 hours on duty in 14 days. Resets take 36 or 72 consecutive hours off.
• North of 60°N the limits are 15 hours driving and 18 hours on duty within a 20-hour window.
• The carrier, not just the driver, has a legal duty to monitor compliance and correct violations (s.87). Drivers can be declared out of service for violations (s.91), and both drivers and carriers can be fined.
• Certified ELDs are mandatory for federally regulated carriers, subject to the exemptions in s.77, with penalties enforced since January 1, 2023.