Driving time calculator
Free driving and rest time calculator under Regulation (EC) 561/2006: arrival time including mandatory breaks, a 9- or 10-hour day, daily rest — and the question of whether the run can still be done today.
| From | Until | What | Duration |
|---|
The rules used for this calculation
The basis is Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 for vehicles over 3.5 tonnes in commercial goods transport. The calculator covers the standard case of a driver's day — four figures are enough for that:
| Figure | Rule | In the calculator |
|---|---|---|
| Driving time in one piece | a break after 4 h 30 | fixed |
| Pause | 45 min, divisible into 15 + 30 | selectable |
| Daily driving time | 9 h, twice a week 10 h | selectable |
| Daily rest period | 11 h, three times a week 9 h | selectable |
Breaks = rounded down( total driving time ÷ 4 h 30 ) × 45 min
Arrival = departure + loading time + driving time + breaks + stop times
If the daily driving time is not enough: + daily rest, then on the next day
What is often overlooked
Loading and unloading is not a break. It is other work. The clock until the next mandatory break does not keep running — but it is not reset either. Anyone who spends 45 minutes at the ramp and then drives on still has the break ahead of them.
The extension to 10 hours is not a reserve. It is available twice a week, and the week has often used one of them up by the time the question comes up. Anyone who plans with it as a fixed figure is planning with an exception.
The bottleneck is rarely the distance. At 520 kilometres the pure driving time is well below the daily limit — what breaks the day are loading times and stops that never appear in the costing. That is exactly the difference between a trip that is discarded during planning and one that comes to a halt on the road.
This tool is a practical calculation aid and no legal advice. The regulation, the national rules and the tachograph are what count. The calculation runs entirely in the browser; no input is transmitted.
Calculate with the real remaining times, not with assumptions
- Remaining times per driver from tachograph and telematics
- Multi-day trip with weekly driving time, weekly rest and compensation
- Cabotage, return obligation and posting checked in the same pass
- Multi-manning, split rest period, ferry and train exception
- A warning before awarding instead of a finding afterwards
- Handover of the driving times to the route optimisation
Open-source project. The free calculator stays free; the additional functions are provided exclusively on request and after approval – no automatic access.