1A period of not working for only 14 minutes does not count as rest time, because 14 minutes is less than 15 minutes.

1 A period of not working for only 14 minutes does not count as rest time, because 14 minutes is less than 15 minutes. 2 A period of not working for 17 minutes counts as 15 minutes rest time, because 17 minutes is more than 15 minutes, but is less than 2 lots of 15 minutes (30 minutes). 246A—Counting periods of less than 15 minutes—electronic work diaries (1) This section applies if a driver uses an electronic work diary. (2) Work time and rest time must be counted in 1 minute periods. (3) A period of work time or rest time of less than 1 minute must not be counted. (4) A period of rest time of less than 15 minutes does not count towards a minimum rest time. Examples for the purposes of subsection (4)— 1 A period of not working for 10 minutes does not count towards a minimum rest time because 10 minutes is less than 15 minutes. 2 A period of not working on 3 separate occasions for 14 minutes, 24 minutes and 22 minutes does not count as 60 minutes rest time because the period of 14 minutes, being less than 15 minutes, is disregarded. This section relates to calculating whether a driver has complied with maximum work requirements and minimum rest requirements applying to the driver. It does not matter if the technology used by an electronic work diary counts a period less than 1 minute mentioned in subsections (2) and (3) in the course of arriving at calculations that comply with the subsections. 247—Time to be counted after rest time ends When counting time in a period, the time must not be counted from within rest time, but instead must be counted forward from— (a) if 1 or more major rest breaks are relevant to the period—the end of a relevant major rest break; or (b) in any other case—the end of a relevant period of rest time. An authorised officer intercepts the driver of a fatigue-regulated heavy vehicle on a Friday and inspects the driver's work diary. The driver operates under standard hours. The officer examines the work diary entries for the previous Monday. The entries show that the driver completed 7 continuous hours of stationary rest time at 6.30 am on that day, started work at that time, worked until 11 am that day, had 45 minutes of rest time, worked until 5 pm that day, then had stationary rest time until 4.30 am on the following day, Tuesday, and then worked until 6.30 am on that day. In order to determine the total number of hours worked by the driver in a 24 hour period starting on the Monday, then in accordance with section 247(a) the officer must commence counting from the end of the relevant major rest break, which in this case is from 6.30 am on the Monday until 6.30 am on the Tuesday. Adding up the driver's work periods — 6.30 am to 11 am, 11.45 am to 5.00 pm and 4.30 am to 6.30 am — results in a total of 11¾ hours worked in the 24 hour period. The officer might also decide to assess whether the driver has complied with his or her maximum work and minimum rest requirements for the same 24 hour period. For instance, in any period of 5½ hours, a driver must not work for more than 5¼ hours and must have at least 15 minutes continuous rest when operating under standard hours. To assess whether the driver has complied with this requirement, then in accordance with section 247(b) the officer must commence counting only from the end of a period of rest — from either 6.30 am or 11.45 am on the Monday, or from 4.30 am on the Tuesday. If the officer commenced counting at the end of the rest time that finished at 11.45 am, the officer would see that the driver had worked for 5¼ continuous hours before commencing rest. For the purposes of determining whether on Monday the driver had a minimum of 7 continuous hours stationary rest in a 24 hour period as required under standard hours, the officer must assess the length of the periods of stationary rest time the driver had between the end of the major rest break that finished at 6.30 am on the Monday and 6.30 am on the Tuesday. The officer sees that between 5 pm on the Monday and 4.30 am on the Tuesday the driver had a total of 11½ continuous hours of stationary rest time. 248—Time to be counted by reference to time zone of driver's base If the driver of a fatigue‑regulated heavy vehicle undertakes a journey and is in a different time zone from the time zone of the driver's base at the time when a period of time is relevant for the purposes of this Law, the period must be counted by reference to the time zone of the driver's base. If, for the driver of a fatigue‑regulated heavy vehicle with a base in Queensland, it is necessary to work out the hours of night work time while the driver is in Western Australia on a journey, the hours of night work time are the hours between midnight and 6 am in the Queensland time zone (being the time zone in which the driver's base is situated), even though the hours equate to 10 pm and 4 am in Western Australia. Division 2—Standard work and rest arrangements 249—Standard hours (1) The national regulations may prescribe the maximum work times and minimum rest times (the standard hours) applying to the driver of a fatigue‑regulated heavy vehicle for a period if the driver is not operating under a BFM accreditation, AFM accreditation or work and rest hours exemption. (2) Without limiting subsection (1), the national regulations may prescribe— (a) different standard hours for solo drivers, solo drivers of fatigue‑regulated buses and drivers who are a party to a two‑up driving arrangement; and (b) that a solo driver of a fatigue‑regulated bus may operate under either, but not both, the standard hours for solo drivers or the standard hours for solo drivers of fatigue‑regulated buses; and (c) that a minor risk breach of a maximum work requirement prescribed in the regulations is not to be treated as a minor risk breach. (3) A minor risk breach prescribed for the purposes of subsection (2)(c) is not a contravention of section 250 or 251. 250—Operating under standard hours—solo drivers (1) The solo driver of a fatigue‑regulated heavy vehicle commits an offence if, in any period stated in the standard hours for the driver, the driver— (a) works for more than the maximum work time stated in the standard hours for the period; or (b) rests for less than the minimum rest time stated in the standard hours for the period. 251—Operating under standard hours—two‑up drivers (1) The driver of a fatigue‑regulated heavy vehicle who is a party to a two‑up driving arrangement commits an offence if, in any period stated in the standard hours for the driver, the driver— (a) works for more than the maximum work time stated in the standard hours for the period; or (b) rests for less than the minimum rest time stated in the standard hours for the period. 252—Defence relating to short rest breaks for drivers operating under standard hours (1) This section applies if, at a particular time, the driver of a fatigue‑regulated heavy vehicle is required, under section 250 or 251, to have a short rest break. Examples of when this section applies— The driver is required to have 15 continuous minutes rest time because— (a) the driver has worked for 5¼ hours; or (b) the driver has worked for 7½ hours and has only had 15 continuous minutes rest time during that period; or (c) the driver has worked for 10 hours and has only had 3 lots of 15 continuous minutes rest time during that period. (2) In a proceeding for an offence against section 250 or 251 relating to the driver failing to have the short rest break, it is a defence for the driver to prove that— (a) at the time the driver was required to have the short rest break, there was no suitable rest place for fatigue‑regulated heavy vehicles; and (b) the driver had the short rest break— (i) at the next suitable rest place for fatigue‑regulated heavy vehicles available after that time on the forward route of the driver's journey; and (ii) no later than 45 minutes after the time the driver was required to have the short rest break. Example of when the defence applies— The driver of a fatigue‑regulated heavy vehicle fails to have a short rest break after 5¼ hours of work time because there was no suitable rest place for fatigue‑regulated heavy vehicles when the driver was scheduled to have the short rest break. Instead, the driver has a short rest break after 5½ hours work at a suitable rest place for fatigue‑regulated heavy vehicles down the road. short rest break means rest time of less than 1 hour. Division 3—BFM work and rest arrangements 253—BFM hours (1) The national regulations may prescribe the maximum work times and minimum rest times applying to the driver of a fatigue‑regulated heavy vehicle for a period if the driver is operating under a BFM accreditation (the BFM hours). (2) Without limiting subsection (1), the national regulations may prescribe— (a) different BFM hours for solo drivers and drivers who are a party to a two‑up driving arrangement; and (b) that a minor risk breach of a maximum work requirement prescribed in the regulations is not to be treated as a minor risk breach. (3) A minor risk breach prescribed for the purposes of subsection (2)(b) is not a contravention of section 254 or 256. 254—Operating under BFM hours—solo drivers (1) The solo driver of a fatigue‑regulated heavy vehicle commits an offence if, in any period stated in the BFM hours for the driver, the driver— (a) works for more than the maximum work time stated in the BFM hours for the period; or (b) rests for less than the minimum rest time stated in the BFM hours for the period. 255—Defence for solo drivers operating under BFM hours relating to split rest breaks (1) This section applies if, at a particular time, the driver of a fatigue‑regulated heavy vehicle is required under section 254 to have 7 continuous hours of stationary rest time in a period of 24 hours. (2) In a proceeding for an offence against section 254 for a solo driver of a fatigue‑regulated heavy vehicle relating to the driver failing to have the 7 continuous hours of stationary rest time, it is a defence for the driver to prove that— (a) at the time the driver was required to have the 7 continuous hours of stationary rest time, the driver was operating under BFM hours as a solo driver of a fatigue‑regulated heavy vehicle; and (b) during the period of 24 hours for which the 7 continuous hours of stationary rest time was required to be had, the driver had 6 continuous hours of stationary rest time and 2 continuous hours of stationary rest time (a split rest break); and (c) the driver had not had a split rest break in the previous 24‑hour period. Example of when the defence applies— The driver of a fatigue‑regulated heavy vehicle stops work to have 7 continuous hours of stationary rest time, but cannot sleep, and so the driver has only 2 continuous hours of stationary rest time and then drives on for a further 2 hours and has a further 6 continuous hours of stationary rest time at another place down the road. In the previous 24‑hour period the driver had 7 continuous hours of stationary rest time. 256—Operating under BFM hours—two‑up drivers (1) The driver of a fatigue‑regulated heavy vehicle who is a party to a two‑up driving arrangement commits an offence if, in any period stated in the BFM hours for the driver, the driver— (a) works for more than the maximum work time stated in the BFM hours for the period; or (b) rests for less than the minimum rest time stated in the BFM hours for the period. Division 4—AFM work and rest arrangements 257—AFM hours AFM hours are the maximum work times and minimum rest times applying, for a period, to the driver of a fatigue‑regulated heavy vehicle operating under an AFM accreditation, and stated in the accreditation certificate for the accreditation. 258—Operating under AFM hours (1) The driver of a fatigue‑regulated heavy vehicle commits an offence if, in any period stated in the AFM hours for the driver, the driver— (a) works for more than the maximum work time stated in the AFM hours; or (b) rests for less than the minimum rest time stated in the AFM hours. Division 5—Arrangements under work and rest hours exemption 259—Exemption hours (1) Exemption hours are the maximum work times and minimum rest times applying, for a period, to the driver of a fatigue‑regulated heavy vehicle operating under a work and rest hours exemption, and stated in the relevant document for the exemption. relevant document means— (a) for a work and rest hours exemption (notice)—the Commonwealth Gazette notice for the exemption; or (b) for a work and rest hours exemption (permit)—the permit for the exemption. 260—Operating under exemption hours (1) The driver of a fatigue‑regulated heavy vehicle operating under a work and rest hours exemption commits an offence if, in any period stated in the exemption hours for the exemption, the driver— (a) works for more than the maximum work time stated in the exemption hours; or (b) rests for less than the minimum rest time stated in the exemption hours.