Drivers’ working time – the essence
In an era of such widespread use of road transport, both for commercial and economic purposes (in Poland in 2008, over 80% of freight tonnage was transported by road and over 60% of transport work was performed), ensuring road safety has become an extremely important issue. To this end, a number of regulations concerning professional drivers have been enacted to indicate/order them to behave appropriately (safely) under given conditions. One of the most important areas regulated by these provisions is the so-called “drivers’ working time”.
However, it is necessary to distinguish between two key concepts: drivers’ working time and driving time. Drivers’ working time is the time from the start to the end of work, which includes all activities related to the performance of road transport, including, among others, driving the vehicle, loading and unloading, supervision and assistance to passengers boarding and alighting, forwarding activities, daily maintenance of the vehicle and trailer/semi-trailer, necessary administrative formalities, and keeping the vehicle clean. On the other hand, driving time is the time of operating the vehicle from the moment the engine is started until it is stopped, including temporary stops, in particular the vehicle stopping at traffic lights or at a railway crossing.
Regulations concerning drivers’ working time are related to a greater extent to social issues; their primary task is to protect the rights of the employee. In turn, the task of regulations concerning driving time is to ensure road safety. It should be noted that by complying with the standards of drivers’ working time, the driver is not exempt from the obligation to apply the standards concerning driving time. Therefore, they must plan the transport in such a way that both the restrictions concerning working time and driving time are met.
In Poland, the authorities responsible for monitoring compliance with the regulations on working time and driving time are:
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Road Transport Inspectorate (ITD) – inspections regarding driving time
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National Labour Inspectorate (PIP) – inspections regarding drivers’ working time.
ITD inspections take place both on the route and on the premises of the workplace by reading data recorded on the tachograph chart (in the case of analog tachographs) or on the so-called driver card (in the case of digital tachographs). In the case of PIP inspectors, the records of drivers’ working time are also subject to inspection at the company’s headquarters. Furthermore, according to the “Road Traffic Law” act, the police, border guard, and military police are also authorized to control road traffic, including issues related to time, especially driving time.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 6/2010.