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Based on the road freight transport in France, the article examines the historical process of the legal and social formulation of a time-based contract on the availability of long haul truck drivers. This contract is particularly marked by the tension between the mobilization and the protection of the worker and is defined by the expression “time on duty.” Emblematic of the indigenization of the law, the time-based contract negotiated through conflict and dialogue is inscribed in another regime that stem from the managerialization of the law. Introducing service time to drivers with non-binding agreements with a freight company has gradually allowed the measurement of flexible working time.