PRF fines 280 drivers per day for failing to comply with the Law on Rest and Sleep at the Wheel continues to be a great risk of accidents

In the first six months of 2026, the Federal Highway Police (PRF) fined 50,484 drivers for non-compliance with the Rest Law on Brazilian federal highways. The number fell 12.5% compared to the 57,738 caught in the same period of 2025, however, this apparent improvement is deceiving.

This is because, according to PRF data, inspection has retreated even more significantly: operational commands went from 18,276 to 14,778, a decrease of 19.14%. According to Adalgisa Lopes, a road safety specialist and president of the Association of Traffic Clinics of the State of Minas Gerais (Actrans):

When the volume of fines is crossed with the volume of operations carried out, we see that the rate of fines per command rose from 3.16 to 3.42 infractions per approach. That is, every time the PRF goes to the field, it finds more drivers driving beyond the legal limit of hours behind the wheel.”

SEE ALSO:

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• Sleep at the wheel: fatigue alert can save the driver’s life

What is the Law of Rest?

Law No. 13,103, known as the Rest Law, applies to both truck drivers and bus drivers, and aims to ensure that driving time is interspersed with adequate rest periods, protecting the driver’s health and safety on the highways.

The legislation establishes that:

• Every five and a half hours in a row behind the wheel, the professional driver must make a 30-minute stop;
• The driver must make a mandatory stop of one hour for food during the journey;
• Every 24 hours, the driver needs to have rested 11 and only eight hours can be uninterrupted driving;
• Between two trips, there must be a minimum daily break of 11 hours, which can be postponed only if it is demonstrated that the driver was seeking to reach a place that offered safety and adequate service.

Sleep restriction is a huge risk on the roads

Giovana Varonni, a specialist in Traffic Psychology at Actrans, details what happens in the mind of a sleep-deprived driver. According to her:

• Staying awake for 19 hours in a row generates a degradation of psychomotor performance equivalent to a blood alcohol level of 0.05%.
• Twenty-four hours without sleep is equivalent to 0.10%, a level that constitutes a traffic crime in Brazil.
• The exhausted brain activates involuntary defense mechanisms, such as microsleep, which lasts from one to five seconds. In this interval, the driver may have his eyes open, but is clinically asleep. At 80 kilometers per hour, four seconds of microsleep means almost 90 meters traveled without any control of the vehicle.

Varonni also describes the phenomenon of road hypnosis: prolonged driving on monotonous roads induces a state of dissociation in which the driver performs the movements automatically, but the mind is disconnected from the environment. The result is so-called inattentional blindness, in which the driver looks at the road, but the brain does not process what is in front of it.

Violation of the Rest Law is related to the lack of infrastructure

Per day, almost 280 drivers were fined for violating the Rest Law on the country’s federal highways. According to Actrans, part of the problem is the lack of infrastructure for truck drivers to rest.

The association points out that there are only 139 certified Stop and Rest Points throughout the national territory, distributed in 22 states and along 37 highways. This is a very small number compared to the Brazilian federal highway network, which has 75.8 thousand kilometers, according to PRF data.

There are vast stretches where the driver cannot find a safe place to park and sleep. The options are reduced to stopping on the side of a dark and deserted highway, at the risk of theft, or moving on. And many drivers prefer to continue the trip so as not to miss the cargo or the delivery deadline and end up risking their own lives and those of others.

For Adalgisa Lopes, the problem takes on even more serious contours when looking at the type of vehicle involved. Truck drivers drive machines weighing more than six tons and bus drivers transport dozens of lives in a single trip.

When an exhausted driver loses control of one of these vehicles, the energy released on impact is proportional to the size and weight of the vehicle. The road safety expert states that:

“90% of traffic accidents are caused by human factors, and fatigue is among the main triggers of these failures. Tiredness is the organism telling you that your systems are collapsing. It destroys judgment and affects the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for risk assessment and decision-making. The driver loses track of his own limit, believing that he can last another hour when his cognitive functions are already severely degraded. Risk perception is distorted, frustration tolerance decreases, and irritability and impulsivity arise. This considerably increases the risk of accidents.”

Breach of the Rest Law in several states of Brazil

The three states with the highest number of fines in the first half of 2026 reflect the geography of Brazilian logistical pressure:

• Bahia leads with 5,049 infractions;
• Minas Gerais with 4,256 occupies second place;
• Mato Grosso with 4,183 closes the podium.

Bahia and Minas are mandatory traffic states that connect the South and Southeast regions to the Northeast, with single-lane highways, sinuous relief and long distances that physically wear out the driver.

Mato Grosso recorded the only increase among the three states, with fines growing 8.34% compared to the same period in 2025. As the main agribusiness hub, the state is experiencing intense seasonal pressure during the flow of crops, with delivery times that push drivers beyond the legal limits of working hours.