Ukraine is preparing tough changes for drivers: what you need to know

Ukraine wants to make tachographs mandatory for trucks and passenger vehicles, as well as define clear rules for the duration of driving and rest periods for drivers. The goal of the innovations is to bring Ukrainian legislation closer to European standards and increase road safety.

According to the draft law No. 14280 “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Road Transport”, all vehicles weighing more than 3.5 tons or those carrying more than 9 passengers must be equipped with digital or “smart” tachographs. The devices will record driving time, breaks, rest and other parameters of the driver’s work. Data from tachographs will have official status and will be used during control of work regimes, inspections and investigations of road accidents. It will be prohibited to operate a vehicle without a working tachograph.

The draft law also regulates the duration of driving a vehicle:

standard daily work – up to 9 hours, up to 10 hours twice a week is allowed;

maximum per week – 56 hours, and per two weeks – 90 hours;

After 4.5 hours of continuous driving, the driver must take a minimum of 45 minutes of break, which can be divided into 15 and 30 minutes.

Regarding rest, the driver must receive a daily rest period:

regular – at least 11 hours in a row;

combined – 3 hours and 9 hours together;

Short breaks (9–11 hours) are allowed no more than three times between full weekly breaks.

Weekly rest is 45 hours, with the possibility of reducing it to 24 hours with further compensation, but regular rest in the cabin is prohibited, as in the EU.

For vehicles with multiple drivers, the rules apply to each driver separately, and waiting time is only counted if the driver is ready to start driving immediately.

The new rules should streamline the work of crews on long flights and prevent situations where periods of activity are disguised as rest.

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