Hours of Service Rules for Ontario Carriers

The Governing Regulations

Hours of service rules for commercial vehicle drivers operating in Ontario are governed by Ontario Regulation 555/06 (Hours of Service of Drivers) under the Highway Traffic Act. This regulation reflects the national framework under SOR/2005-313 (Commercial Vehicle Drivers Hours of Service Regulations), which applies to federally regulated carriers operating interprovincially.

For carriers operating exclusively within Ontario, O. Reg. 555/06 governs. For carriers crossing provincial or international borders, the federal regulation applies. The core daily limits are identical — 13 hours driving, 14 hours on-duty, 16-hour shift window — but record-keeping requirements and some cycle details differ.

Daily Limits

The Off-Duty Rule: 8 Hours vs. 10 Hours

This is the most commonly confused element of HOS rules. There are two separate off-duty requirements that operate together:

• 8 consecutive hours off-duty — required before a driver may begin driving again. This resets the shift window. A driver cannot drive after a single 8-hour break unless the daily 10-hour off-duty total has also been met.
• 10 total hours off-duty per day — required within any 24-hour period. The daily minimum. Two blocks of at least 30 minutes each may count toward this total (alongside the 8-hour block), but the 8 consecutive hours must still be achieved.

The practical consequence: a driver who takes exactly 8 consecutive hours off-duty has not yet met the 10-hour daily total if no other off-duty time was logged that day. The two additional hours must come from somewhere — typically before the shift began or as documented rest breaks.

Cycle Options

Ontario carriers have two cycle options. Drivers select which cycle governs their on-duty accumulation at the start of each record-keeping period.

Where Carriers Actually Get Into Trouble

After reviewing compliance records for dozens of Ontario fleets, the same HOS violations appear repeatedly. None of them are intentional log-book fraud. They are scheduling and administrative failures that turn into CVOR violations:

• Pre-trip and post-trip time not logged as on-duty. DVIRs require time — if a driver spends 30 minutes on a pre-trip inspection, that time is on-duty, not off-duty, and must be logged. Carriers who schedule shifts as "departure time = on-duty start" without accounting for pre-trip time are systematically generating on-duty overruns.
• Loading and unloading not counted. Waiting at a dock, helping load, or doing paperwork is on-duty time. Carriers who treat loading stops as "rest" are often violating the on-duty limit without realizing it.
• The 16-hour shift window runs continuously. Once a driver goes on-duty, the 16-hour clock does not pause for rest breaks under 8 hours. A driver who starts at 6:00 AM must complete their shift before 10:00 PM — regardless of how much time they spent in rest areas.
• Cycle hours not tracked cumulatively. A driver who has worked 65 of their 70 allowed Cycle 1 hours still has 5 remaining — but if scheduling assumes full availability and a full 13-hour shift is assigned, the driver will hit the cycle cap mid-shift.

HOS Violations and Your CVOR

Hours of service violations are recorded in two places. A violation issued to the driver at roadside appears on the driver's abstract and contributes to the carrier's Driver CVOR violation category. A systematic HOS problem identified in a carrier audit — where log records show pervasive HOS rule violations — contributes to an HOS audit profile finding, which can directly downgrade a carrier's safety rating.

The MTO uses CVOR data to identify carriers with elevated HOS violation rates for targeted HOS-profile facility audits. A carrier whose HOS rate rises above threshold levels is a strong candidate for an audit that will focus specifically on log records, ELD data, and supporting documents — not the full four-profile review.

Since June 12, 2022, carriers operating in Ontario — including those operating exclusively within the province — are required to use a certified Electronic Logging Device rather than paper logs (with limited exceptions). ELD data is significantly easier for auditors to review and harder for carriers to inadvertently mismanage. It also means that systematic violations are systematically recorded.

Record-Keeping Requirements

Whether a carrier uses paper logs or an ELD, HOS records must be retained for the minimum required period and must be producible during a roadside inspection or facility audit. Auditors reviewing HOS records will look for:

• Continuity — no unexplained gaps in duty status
• Supporting documents — fuel receipts, toll records, and bills of lading that corroborate the location and timing shown in the log
• Consistency between ELD data and paper records (if both exist)
• Evidence that the carrier has a system for reviewing driver logs, not just collecting them