For customers · For drivers
Driving and rest times for truck drivers, explained simply
How long a truck driver can drive per day and per week, which breaks and rest periods are mandatory, and what that means for your delivery date.
In short
- After four and a half hours at the wheel, the driver takes a 45-minute break. They drive no more than 9 hours a day, or 10 hours twice a week.
- Between two working days they need at least 11 hours of rest, which can be reduced to 9 no more than three times between two weekly rest periods.
- A truck with a single driver realistically covers 600–800 km a day. The rest of the day is rest time, not delay.
A 900-kilometre journey takes about ten hours by car. Sent by 40-tonne truck, the same goods usually arrive the next day. The difference isn’t speed: it’s the EU rules on how long a driver may drive.
The rules are the same across the European Union. They are set by Regulation (EC) No 561/2006, amended in 2020 by the Mobility Package, and the tachograph in the truck records all of them.
The basic rules
| Rule | Limit |
|---|---|
| Driving without a break | no more than 4 h 30 min |
| Break after 4 h 30 | 45 min (or 15 + 30 min) |
| Daily driving | 9 h (10 h twice a week) |
| Daily rest | 11 h (reduced to 9 h no more than three times) |
| Weekly driving | 56 h |
| Driving in two consecutive weeks | 90 h |
| Weekly rest | 45 h (reduced to 24 h under certain conditions) |
The 45-minute break can be split in two: the first part at least 15 minutes, the second at least 30. The 11-hour daily rest can also be taken in two parts, of 3 and 9 hours, which makes 12 hours in total.
What the Mobility Package changed
Since 2020, several rules have changed in drivers’ favour:
- the regular weekly rest of 45 hours can no longer be spent in the cab; it must be taken in suitable accommodation paid for by the employer;
- the driver must be able to return home or to the company’s base at least once every four weeks;
- the truck must return to the country where the company is established at least once every eight weeks;
- to get home or back to the company’s base for a weekly rest, the driver may, exceptionally, exceed the driving time by up to one hour; for a regular weekly rest, by up to two hours, if they have first taken a 30-minute break.
The Mobility Package also requires every truck in international transport to be fitted with a second-generation smart tachograph (retrofit deadline: August 2025), which records border crossings automatically.
What this means for your delivery date
A truck with a single driver realistically covers between 600 and 800 kilometres a day. Here is a typical driving day:
- four and a half hours of driving;
- a 45-minute break;
- another four and a half hours of driving;
- 11 hours of rest.
At an average speed of 70 km/h, 9 hours of driving means about 630 km. For example, Baia Mare to Linz is about 870 km on the truck route. Leave on Monday morning and the goods arrive on Tuesday morning.
What if you need it faster?
There are a few legal options:
- a reduced daily rest of 9 hours, no more than three times between two weekly rest periods;
- 10-hour driving days, no more than twice a week;
- two drivers per truck: they take turns at the wheel, so the truck spends far less time standing still.
Not every deadline can be met legally. The Regulation states clearly that those who order the transport, meaning shippers and freight forwarders, must also make sure the deadlines they ask for respect driving and rest times.
In short, for shippers
- Allow an extra day for every 600–800 km.
- Allow for the weekend: in Germany, Austria and Hungary, trucks over 7.5 tonnes may not run on Sundays. In Austria the ban starts on Saturday at 15:00, in Hungary on Saturday at 22:00.
- Tell us from the start if the deadline is tight: we’ll work out together what can be done legally.