Driving Regulations, the basic version.

Ok, this is a really simplified version of the driving regs in Canada and the USA. I will try to keep the terminoligy straight forward. The pictures above are of a computer program into which you input the hours you have done for the day and all the calculations are done for you. Please remember that some days I do not use all available hours as it may benefit me in the long run and also could be dictated by parking places ect...
Basic Canada
Max driving...13hrs....Sat behind the wheel.
Max shift.....16hrs....From start of the day till you finish
Weekly cycles..70hrs/7days or 120/14days.. I choose to work 70hr in 7 days
Breaks......10hrs. Can be shortened but I like the 10hrs off.
Resetting...36hrs off duty when you hit 70hrs.

Basic USA
Max driving...11hrs
Max shift....14hrs...from start to finish
Weekly cycles...60hrs/7days or 70hrs/8days. I choose 70hr/8days
Breaks....10hrs, can also be shortened.
Resetting....34hrs off duty when you hit 70hrs.

Some explanations.
You must comply with the destination countries laws when you enter it. If you leave Canada after having driven for 13hrs you cannot legally enter the states, but if you are leaving the States and have driven for 11hrs you may continue for another 2hrs (13 total)into Canada. You also need to be careful with the resetting of hours. If you need to reset in the States it requires that you need a 34hr break, however Canada requires 36hrs. If you cross into Canada the Law will park you up for a further 36hrs not 2hr which is the difference in time.
Another oddball is the weekly cycles or shift patterns which is explained with the use of the photos.

Weekly Cycles/Shift Patterns
Ok lets do Canada first. I use 70hrs/7days. Using the computer program I put the daily hours in. Once you input day six the program fills out the following, your last 6 days combined hours, hours available which is 70hrs minus the last 6 days and
the last 7 days totals.
If you look at the 27 Jan you can see that I worked for 11hrs, the total hours from 22 jan to 27 jan inclusive is 49.75 which is your 6 day. Subtract this from 70hrs and it gives you the available hours tomorrow.

Ok, the States now. All the calculations are done the same except that you add up the hours from the previous 7 days instead of 6 to get your available hours for tomorrow. If you look at the pics, on the 27 Jan I had 20.25hrs free for the 28th but because the States go back for the extra day I only have 12.25 as it had calculated for the 8 hours I worked on 21st jan.
Hence you may have a load of hours free when you leave Canada but not so many when you cross into the States and this has to be taken into account when planning your return trip.

Hopefully this has helped a little in understanding the regulations over here, basically just because you are legel in one country doesnt mean you will be legal in the other. Anyone coming over here dont panic as its all explained in depth.

Anyone who would like a copy of the program to play with drop me a line and I will email it to you with instructions how to use it.

Sorry, its a spreadsheet not a program so will need Microsoft Excel or equivalent to use it.

PHEW !!!