Hi there smart drivers, Rick with Smart
Drive Test talking to you today about
logbook exemptions in Canada. I had a
comment from Elroy - he was looking at the
Ministry of Transportation of Ontario's
Drivers' Handbook and wanted to know if
he had to meet all of the criteria for
being exempt from a logbook. I had a look
at it and I said yes, in fact you do. So
there's a little more to it than just
running beyond a 160
kilometers of your home terminal. There's
some other information that you need to
know as well. So what I thought I'd do is
make a video, go over those rules and the
paperwork and the records that you have
to keep to be exempt from keeping a log
book. And shed some more light on that.
Now as well, know that when you're exempt
from keeping a log book, there still has
to be paperwork in place, and the
employer is required to keep paperwork.
But the employer is going to pass that
paperwork down onto you as the driver to
maintain those records. So that's going
to come in the form of a trip sheet. So
what we're going to do today, is we're going to
talk about the information you need to
keep in lieu of a logbook and the rules
and criteria that you have to meet to be
exempt from a logbook. We'll be right back with
that. Stick around.
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Hi there smart drivers, welcome back. Rick
with Smart Drive Test talking to you
today about logbook exemption and the
criteria for not having to keep a log
book in Canada for commercial drivers.
I'm going to use the rules out of
Ontario. Now the rules in Ontario are
pretty much widespread across Canada.
It's going to be the same rules for all
drivers across Canada, regardless of
where you are. So the three criteria for
not having to keep a log book in Canada:
1) the first criteria is that you have to
be operating within a 160
kilometers (100 miles) of your home terminal; 2) next
criteria is that you have to start and
finish at the same place every day. So if
you are working out of Milton, Ontario,
you have to start in Milton and you have to go
back to Milton. That's the second rule,
and the 3) third rule is that you can't
work for more than one company in a day.
So for example, if you go to work for ABC
trucking in the morning, in the afternoon
you go work for a dump truck company or
an excavating company -
you can't do that if you do that. If
you're working for more than one carrier
in a day, you have to keep a log book. Now
if you don't keep a log book, your
employer has keep records for you in
lieu of the logbook. And the records that
have to be kept have to include the
date, the driver's name, and the location
from which you're working. That's the
first thing you have to do. As well, it
has to indicate which cycle you're
working in, whether you're working in
Cycle #1 or Cycle #2. And the duty status
lines and the number of hours that
you're working in each duty status line.
Now obviously if you're working within a
160 kilometers of your home
terminal you're going to be driving a
day cab - most likely!
You're not likely going to be driving a sleeper
berth, so it's only going to be off-duty,
driving, and on duty, not driving time that
you're going to have to keep track of.
You have to keep track of that for each
day that you're working. And finally
you're going to have to keep track of
that for the amount of time that you're
working in your work cycle. Now most
drivers, and I recommend this highly that
you work 70 hours in seven days--
Cycle #1. There's really no point working in
Cycle #2, as I've said before. In Cycle #2,
when you accumulate 70 hours on duty you,
have to take 24 hours off-duty as per
the hours of service regulations.
Well, if you're going to take 24 hours
off-duty, you might as well take another
12 off--36 hours--and reset
Cycle #1 and carry on with a full
set of 70 hours again, as opposed to 50 hours
in cycle 2. And if you want more
explanation of that, have a look at the
hours of service regulations and you can
figure it out, but I strongly recommend
just working on Cycle #1. Now for
figuring out your work cycle--the number of
hours that you're working in your work
cycle--line three and four--driving & on
duty, not driving--are going to be the
hours that you're going to calculate for
your work cycle in determining that
you're not in violation of the 70 hours
in seven days. When you're working on
Cycle #1. The other thing about in lieu of
the logbook--that you're not keeping a
log book--the employer is not going to
keep those records for you. You're going
to have to figure out those hours and
you're going to have to keep track of
that hours because the employer is going
to pass that down to the driver in the
shape of a trip sheet. And trip sheets
just simply going to be the paperwork
that you need to keep in lieu of your
log sheet. So if you want to figure out
trip sheets and get some idea of what a
trip sheet is about I'll put a complete
video up here for you on the trip sheet.
And keeping track of your work hours in
lieu of your log sheet. And again,
authorities--the MTO in Ontario, the CVSE (Commercial Vehicle Safety & Enforcement)
in western canada, and the Maritimes (the
authority's down (CVE-Commercial Vehicle Enforcement) there--have the
right to go into your employer and look
at those records - those work records. So
know that that you could be audited
potentially on the number of hours that
you're working, even if you're working in
a day cab. So know that your work hours
can be audited, even if you're running a
day cab and there's criteria that you
need to follow for keeping paperwork in
lieu of a logbook. So in conclusion
exemptions from logbooks in Canada. The
three rules are: 1) you have to be working
in within a 160 kilometers of
your home terminal; 2) you have to start and
finish the same place every day; 3)and you
cannot work for more than one carrier in
a day. Those are the top three rules and
again there's paperwork that has to be
kept on the part of your employer. That
paperwork has to include the driver's
name, the date, and the location from
which they're working. The duty status
hours that they're working. Each duty
status and finally the daily tally and
also the tally for the work cycle that
you're working in. So that's the
paperwork that you have to keep too be
exempt from keeping a log book. So it's
really not really a trade-off in terms
of paper if you're trying to get out of
paperwork.
It doesn't really work out because the
employer is going to pass that down to
you as the professional driver. So know that
you've got to keep paperwork and the
authorities may or may not audit that
paperwork to know how many hours are
working, even if you're not keeping a log
book. Question for my smart drivers: do
you not keep a log book, and what paperwork
do you keep instead of your logbook?
Leave a comment down in the comment
section there - all that helps out the new
drivers coming into the industry.
I'm Rick with Smart Drive Test. Thanks
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And remember, pick the best answer not
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Have a great day. Bye now.
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