Driving & rest time fines
How much does a driving & rest time violation cost?
Driving & rest time violations cost between 500 - 4000 DKK per violation (5 - 40%) for the driver and double that for the company.
When the police check for violations at a roadside check, they look at 28 days. The violations they find during this period are added together and rounded up to the nearest amount divisible by 500.
When the Danish Transport Authority checks for driving and rest time violations, they look at a full month, i.e. from the 1st to the last day of a given month.
Here the fines are also added together and rounded up to the nearest amount divisible by 500.
Fines for violation of the driving and rest time rules in articles 6, 8 and 9:
- Driver's daily and weekly driving time, article 6
- Driver's daily and weekly rest/break, article 8
- Ferry rule + working time outside the vehicle, article 9
As a starting point, the fines for articles 6, 8 and 9 are calculated as follows:
- For the driver, the fine is DKK 100 for every percent the rules are exceeded.
- For the company, the fine is determined based on double
- DKK 200 for each percent the rules are exceeded.
In Denmark, we have a de minimis limit of 5%.
This means that violations between 0.1 - 5% do not give rise to a fine.
Fines start at DKK 500 and are rounded up to the nearest amount divisible by 500. This means that if the driver has a violation of 8%, it will result in a fine of DKK 800 and will be rounded up to DKK 1000 if the driver has no other violations. If there are multiple violations, the rounding up will only take place after all fines have been added together.
The company that employs the driver will receive double the fine - DKK 2000.
Penalty for violation of Article 7 (Break rule)
Article 7 of the driving and rest time regulations deals with the length of the daily break and its division.
- For the driver, a minimum fine of DKK 25 per percentage exceedance has been set
- For businesses, a fine of DKK 50 per percentage exceedance has been set.
For the company, the minimum fine is DKK 250, if added to other fines - alternatively rounded up to DKK 1000.
For the company, the same applies to missing data on a vehicle. DKK 6000 per day.
Convicted from driving
The driver of a vehicle shall be conditionally convicted from driving if Articles 6, 8 or 9 have been infringed by more than 40%.
For infringement (regardless of the size) of Article 7, there is no conviction from driving.
The driver of a vehicle is unconditionally convicted from driving if there are several circumstances in which the driving and rest periods have been breached by more than 40% and the conditions are more than one week.
If 6 violations of more than 5% are found within a period of 3 years, the driver's driving license will be suspended.
The violations can be committed in the same week or over several weeks.
For example, if a driver has 12 violations within a period of 3 years (2×6 violations), the driving license will be suspended unconditionally.
The 6 violations, individually, will result in a conditional suspension of the driving license.
Calculate fine size
In the graph you can see what the fine will be if you drive more than the allowed 4 hours and 30 minutes before a break.
In Denmark, we have a de minimis limit of 5%. This means that there is no fine for driving more than 4 hours and 43 minutes,
as this results in a violation of 4.8%.
However, be aware that the Danish Road Safety Agency and the police can still issue fines for minor violations if it looks like a pattern (typically more than 5 times in a month)
In the graph below you can see how much of a fine it would be to drive more than the allowed 9 hours in a day.
This is assuming that the two days with 10 hours of driving have been used up.
As you can see, driving 9 hours and 56 minutes will result in a 10.8% violation and a fine of DKK 1500(rounded up).
Due to the 5% de minimis limit in Denmark, you can drive 9 hours and 26 minutes and get a violation of 4.8% without receiving a fine upon inspection. However, both the Police and the Danish Road Safety Agency can issue fines below the de minimis limit for continuous action, such as more than 5 violations right at or below the de minimis limit.
It is allowed to drive up to 56 hours per week (max 90 hours total in two consecutive weeks). The graph shows, among other things, that driving 61 hours and 40 minutes in a week will cost the driver a fine of DKK 1500, which is a 10% violation
A regular weekly rest is 45 hours. A reduced weekly rest is a minimum of 24 hours. Assuming the reduced rest is used up, the penalty for a missed regular weekly rest can be seen below. For example. For example, it costs a fine of DKK 2000 if you only take 38 hours instead of 45 hours, which is a 15% violation.
