On a payroll, driving and rest is something the dispatcher watches and, in the worst case, something the company answers for. Working for yourself it is still the same rule — but now with your name on the ticket. Technically nothing has changed; economically everything has.
Six limits that apply to everyone alike
The rules are not Czech. They are a directly applicable EU regulation, so the same numbers hold in Germany, Poland and Spain. Prose handles them badly, because they bind simultaneously and the tightest of them depends on what last week looked like:
| What is counted | Limit | Provision |
|---|---|---|
| Daily driving | 9 hours; twice a week at most, up to 10 hours | Art. 6(1) |
| Weekly driving | 56 hours | Art. 6(2) |
| Two consecutive weeks | 90 hours in total | Art. 6(3) |
| Break from driving | after 270 minutes of driving (four and a half hours), an uninterrupted break of at least 45 minutes | Art. 7 |
| Regular daily rest | at least 11 hours | Art. 4(g) |
| Reduced daily rest | at least 9 hours but less than 11 hours | Art. 4(g) |
Source: Regulation (EC) No 561/2006, Articles 4, 6 and 7 — consolidated text of 20.08.2020. In its own words: "The daily driving time shall not exceed nine hours. However, the daily driving time may be extended to at most 10 hours not more than twice during the week", "The weekly driving time shall not exceed 56 hours…", "The total accumulated driving time during any two consecutive weeks shall not exceed 90 hours" and "After a driving period of four and a half hours a driver shall take an uninterrupted break of not less than 45 minutes, unless he takes a rest period".
Two things in that table are misread more than the rest.
The week is fixed, not rolling. Article 4 defines it as the period between 00.00 on Monday and 24.00 on Sunday, not the last seven days. Anyone counting a rolling week is counting to a rule the regulation does not contain.
90 hours is the limit people actually walk into. Two weeks at 56 hours come to 112, which is 22 hours more than allowed. After one heavy week the next one is capped, whatever dispatch offers.
One more item worth knowing exactly: the regular daily rest of 11 hours may, under that same Article 4(g), be split into two periods — an uninterrupted 3 hours first, then an uninterrupted 9 hours. That is not a reduced rest, although it is often described as one; a reduced rest is a separate category of at least 9 hours and less than 11 hours.
Weekly rest, and how often you may shorten the daily one
You must have taken a new daily rest within 24 hours of the end of the previous daily or weekly rest (Art. 8(2)). A reduced daily rest, at least 9 and less than 11 hours, is allowed at most three times between two weekly rests (Art. 8(4)).
A weekly rest is regular, at least 45 hours, or reduced, less than 45 hours but at least 24 consecutive hours (Art. 4(h)). In any two consecutive weeks you must take either two regular weekly rests, or one regular and one reduced (Art. 8(6)). A weekly rest must start no later than the end of six 24-hour periods from the end of the previous weekly rest (Art. 8(6)). A week runs from 00.00 on Monday to 24.00 on Sunday (Art. 4(i)).
A reduction of a weekly rest is made up by an equivalent rest taken in one block before the end of the third week following the week in question (Art. 8(6b)). The compensation is attached to another rest of at least nine hours (Art. 8(7)).
A regular weekly rest, and any weekly rest of more than 45 hours taken as compensation, may not be taken in the vehicle: it belongs in accommodation with suitable sleeping and sanitary facilities (Art. 8(8)).
What stays the same
The requirements for daily and weekly rest, for breaks and for maximum driving time are the same for everyone running a tachograph. The driver card, code 95 and regular data downloads are exactly as compulsory as they were — how the card is obtained and how long it takes is covered in The tachograph card.
Roadside checks have not changed either: they look at the card, they look at the records, and if necessary they ask for data from previous weeks.
What changes
The fine is yours to pay — not the company's, not the dispatcher's — because the transport is performed by an OSVČ.
It costs more, too. A breach used to mean a talking-to; now it comes out of the very margin you were calculating routes for in the first place.
The record stays with you. The card belongs to the person, not the truck or an employer, and that shows up when you arrange liability insurance.
Plan rest as a cost
Somewhere to sleep, the parking, the time to unload — all of it is part of the round trip. A round trip calculated without the compulsory rest always looks better than it turns out.
What a breach costs in Czechia
Alongside the Regulation, driving and rest times in Czechia are enforced under Act No. 111/1994 Coll. on road transport (zákon o silniční dopravě). A driver commits an offence, among other things, by
- not keeping the record of driving time, breaks and rest in the prescribed way, or not producing it at a check,
- not observing the requirements on driving time, breaks or rest,
- producing an invalid document at a check, or not producing the documents the Act requires (§ 34e(3)(b) to (d)).
Such an offence can be fined up to CZK 15,000 (§ 34e(4)(b)), and by an on-the-spot order up to CZK 5,000 (§ 34e(10)). On suspicion of an offence, a police officer or authorised person may stop the driver from continuing and retain the vehicle documents; the costs of the stop fall on the person suspected (§ 35j). A carrier that fails to ensure compliance commits an offence of its own (§ 35(2)(b)). These are upper limits; the amount is set by the authority.
How it affects the numbers
Working out a direction’s profitability without allowing for compulsory rest is the most common way to fool yourself. A round trip with two nights and a round trip with one are different numbers of round trips a month, and therefore different income at the same rate per kilometre. The easiest place to track it is in the same load data that holds your costs: by the end of the quarter you can see which directions genuinely add up. What those kilometres turn into is on the earnings page.
