Driver cards and rest periods – the rules that govern a lorry driver's day

Most occupations have working hours agreed between employer and employee. A lorry driver’s working hours are something else: laid down in regulation, measured by a device in the dashboard, and checkable at the roadside several weeks back in time.

The reason is simple. A tired accountant makes a mistake in a spreadsheet. A tired driver in forty tonnes makes one at a hundred kilometres an hour.

This episode goes through how the system works, and what the rules actually say.

Who it applies to

When the rules bite

Type of transport	Threshold
Goods	The vehicle's maximum authorised mass, including trailer or semi-trailer, exceeds 3.5 tonnes.
Passengers	The vehicle is built, or permanently adapted, for transport of more than nine people including the driver.
Light vans across borders	From 1 July 2026, cross-border goods and cabotage transport in vehicles above 2.5 tonnes is covered as well.

The tachograph

The device in the dashboard is what the whole system hangs on. Vehicles registered after 9 December 2006 must have a digital tachograph.

The tachograph distinguishes between four things, and it is the driver who has to tell it which one applies.

Driving is recorded automatically when the vehicle moves.
Other work is unloading, loading, paperwork, maintenance – work that is not driving.
Period of availability is waiting where you are not working, but cannot use the time freely either.
Break or rest is the only thing that counts as a break.
The point: only the first records itself. The other three must be selected manually, and that is where most unintentional breaches arise – not from driving too long, but from forgetting to switch mode.

The driver must also register the country where the driving starts and ends. In multi-manning – at least two drivers in the vehicle – the active driver’s card must always be in card slot number 1.

The driver card

The card is the driver’s identity in the system. It is personal, and it is what ties the recordings to a human being rather than to a vehicle.

To be issued with a driver card you need a valid driving licence and a Norwegian national identity number. If you drive a vehicle with a digital tachograph within the rules, you must have a card.

The driving period

Here come the numbers, and it is worth taking them in the right order.

From hour to week

1. Nine hours a dayDaily driving time must not exceed nine hours.
2. Ten hours, twice a weekUp to twice a week it may be extended to ten hours.
3. 56 hours in a weekTotal driving time in one week.
4. 90 hours over two weeksAcross two consecutive weeks the ceiling is 90 hours in total.

The break

This is the rule most people have heard of, and the one most often quoted wrongly.

How the break may be taken

In one

45 minutes

• After no more than four and a half hours of driving
• Must be spent on rest
• Cannot be used for other work

Split

15 + 30 minutes

• First part at least 15 minutes
• Second part at least 30 minutes
• The order cannot be swapped
• The final part must always be at least 30 minutes

Daily rest

Three lawful variants

Variant	Condition
Normal, unbroken	At least 11 consecutive hours.
Split	At least 3 hours, then at least 9 hours.
Reduced	At least 9 hours, but no more than three times between two weekly rests.

Weekly rest

After no more than six working days a weekly rest must be taken. The main rule is 45 hours.

Reduced weekly rest, and what it costs

1. 45 hours is the normThe normal weekly rest period.
2. 24 hours every second weekThe weekly rest may be reduced to 24 hours every second week.
3. The difference must be compensatedThe hours you cut have to be made up.
4. Within three weeks, in one blockCompensation must happen within three weeks, and be taken together – not piecemeal.

For international goods transport there is an exception to the two-week rule: over a four-week period the driver may have two normal and two reduced weekly rests.

What the Mobility Package changed

Here comes the part that is least about hours and most about what the job actually feels like.

Two changes that moved the responsibility

Where you sleep

Not in the vehicle

• A normal weekly rest, or rest over 45 hours, may not be taken in the vehicle
• It must be taken in a gender-neutral place
• With satisfactory facilities for sleep and sanitary needs
• All accommodation costs are covered by the employer

Getting home

At least every fourth week

• The undertaking must organise the work so the driver can get home
• At least every fourth week
• To take a normal weekly rest

One small, practical change in the same round: a reduced weekly rest may now be interrupted on the same conditions as a normal daily rest when the vehicle is carried by train or ferry.

Why the system looks the way it does

The rules are not written to protect the driver from themselves. They are written to protect the driver from the pressure.

The problem they solve: in a market where margins are thin and the job is urgent, it will always pay someone to drive a little longer.
Why an agreement will not do: whoever refuses loses the job to whoever says yes. Without a shared limit, everyone is pushed downwards.
Hence the measuring device: a rule without recording is a recommendation. The tachograph makes it verifiable – weeks later, and in another country.

What is worth taking with you

That the threshold is 3.5 tonnes for goods and nine people for passenger transport – and that 2.5 tonnes now applies to cross-border transport.

That nine hours is the driving time, ten twice a week, 56 in a week and 90 over two.

That the break is 45 minutes after four and a half hours, and that if it is split, the long part must come last.

That daily rest is eleven hours, or three plus nine, and that nine hours is a quota of three between weekly rests.

That weekly rest is 45 hours, can be reduced to 24 every second week, and that the difference must be made up in one block within three weeks.

And that a normal weekly rest is not taken in the cab, that the employer pays, and that the driver must be able to get home at least every fourth week.

This is a general account of the rules, not legal advice on a specific case. For binding detail, the Norwegian regulations on driving and rest time and tachographs apply, with the underlying EEA regulations. Rules and exemptions change, so always check current information with the Norwegian Public Roads Administration.

Main topics

• Who the rules apply to
• The tachograph, and what it records
• The driver card, and the four modes
• The driving period – nine hours, and ten twice a week
• The break after four and a half hours
• Daily rest, and when it can be shortened
• Weekly rest, and the compensation
• What the Mobility Package changed – where you sleep, and who pays

Questions this episode answers

• Who do the driving and rest time rules apply to?
• What is a driver card, and who needs one?
• What does the tachograph record?
• How long may a driver drive in a day?
• When must you take a break, and can it be split?
• What is the difference between daily rest and weekly rest?
• Can you sleep in the lorry during weekly rest?
• How often must the driver be able to get home?

Key points

• The rules apply to goods transport above 3.5 tonnes, and passenger transport in vehicles built for more than nine people including the driver.
• The driving period is nine hours a day, extendable to ten hours up to twice a week.
• After no more than four and a half hours of driving, a 45-minute break must be taken.
• The break may be split into 15 and then 30 minutes – never the other way round.
• Daily rest is eleven hours, or three plus nine, and may be cut to nine up to three times between weekly rests.
• Weekly rest is 45 hours, and may be reduced to 24 hours every second week against compensation.
• A normal weekly rest may not be taken in the vehicle, and the employer must cover the accommodation.
• The undertaking must organise the work so the driver can get home at least every fourth week.

Sources and references

• Norwegian Public Roads Administration – Regulations for driving time and rest periods
• Norwegian Public Roads Administration – Daily driving period
• Norwegian Public Roads Administration – To whom do the rules apply
• Norwegian Public Roads Administration – Tachograph and driver card requirements
• Norwegian Public Roads Administration – Changes to driving and rest time rules (Mobility Package)