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

How the tachograph and the driver card work, and what the driving and rest time rules actually say: nine hours of driving, the break after four and a half hours, daily rest, weekly rest – and what the Mobility Package changed.

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What this covers

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 this covers (cont.)

What the Mobility Package changed – where you sleep, and who pays

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 last row is the newest, and it surprises many small operators: a three-tonne van running internationally is now inside the rules. There are in addition a number of exemptions – among them vehicles with a top speed below 40 km/h, emergency vehicles, and certain vehicles under 7.5 tonnes in non-commercial transport.

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 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.

The driving period

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

From hour to week

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

Note how the four interlock. Drive 56 hours one week and only 34 remain for the next – however well rested you are. There are ceilings at four levels at once, and you breach the rule the moment any one of them goes.

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

That last point catches the most people. Take 30 minutes first and 15 at the end, and you have not met the requirement – even though the total is the same. And a break is a break: 45 minutes of unloading counts as other work, not as rest.

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.

The split variant adds up to 12 hours, more than the unbroken 11. That is not an error in the rules – it is the price of splitting. And the reduced version is a quota, not an entitlement: use up the three, and the rest of the week has to be taken on eleven.

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

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

The requirement that compensation be taken in one block matters more than it looks. Without it, the missing hours could have been spread out as a little extra rest here and there, which does not give the same recovery as one continuous period.

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

Note where the duties sit. Both are framed as requirements on the undertaking, not on the driver. That is deliberate: a driver far from home, in a fiercely competitive market, has little practical ability to demand this personally. So it is the employer who must organise and pay.

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.

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.

Key points (cont.)

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.

Questions this 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?

Questions this answers (cont.)

Can you sleep in the lorry during weekly rest?
How often must the driver be able to get home?

Sources

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)

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