§395.8 Driver's Record of Duty Status

Editor’s Note:  The FMCSA is currently updating and revising its regulatory guidance to Part 395 of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to conform to the provisions of the new hours-of-service regulations, and to provide additional guidance concerning the application of the new regulations.  All prior interpretations and regulatory guidance relating to Part 395 of the FMCSRs, as well as FMCSA and FHWA memoranda and letters concerning Part 395, may no longer be relied upon as authoritative to the extent they are inconsistent with the final rule published April 28, 2003 and the Technical Amendments published September 30, 2003.  All interpretations and guidance for Parts other than Part 395 remain valid.

Question 1: How should a change of duty status for a short period of time be shown on the driver's record of duty status?

Guidance: Short periods of time (less than 15 minutes) may be identified by drawing a line from the appropriate on-duty (not driving) or driving line to the remarks section and entering the amount of time, such as "6 minutes," and the geographic location of the duty status change.

Question 2: May a rubber stamp signature be used on a driver's record of duty status?

Guidance: No, a driver's record of duty status must bear the signature of the driver whose time is recorded thereon.

Question 3: If a driver's record of duty status is not signed, may enforcement action be taken on the current day's record if it contains false information?

Guidance: Enforcement action can be taken against the driver even though that record may not be signed. The regulations require the driver to keep the record of duty status current to the time of last change of duty status (whether or not the record has been signed). Also, §395.8(e) states that making false reports shall make the driver and/or the carrier liable to prosecution.

Question 4: Must drivers, alternating between interstate and intrastate commerce, record their intrastate driving time on their record of duty status?

Guidance: Yes, to account for all on-duty time for the prior 7 or 8 days preceding an interstate movement.

Question 5: May a driver, being used for the first time, submit records of duty status for the preceding 7 days in lieu of a signed statement?

Guidance: The carrier may accept true and accurate copies of the driver's record of duty status for the preceding 7 days in lieu of the signed statement required by §395.8(j)(2).

Question 6: How should multiple short stops in a town or city be recorded on a record of duty status?

Guidance: All stops made in any one city, town, village or municipality may be computed as one. In such cases the sum of all stops should be shown on a continuous line as on-duty (not driving). The aggregate driving time between such stops should be entered on the record of duty status immediately following the on-duty (not driving) entry. The name of the city, town, village, or municipality, followed by the State abbreviation where all the stops took place, must appear in the "remarks" section of the record of duty status.

Question 7: Is the Canadian bilingual or any other record of duty status form acceptable in the U.S.?

Guidance: Yes, provided the grid format and specific information required are included.

Question 8: May a motor carrier return a driver's completed record of duty status to the driver for correction of inaccurate or incomplete entries?

Guidance: Yes, although the regulations do not require a driver to submit "corrected" records of duty status. A driver may submit corrected records of duty status to the motor

carrier at any time. It is suggested the carrier mark the second submission "CORRECTED COPY" and staple it to the original submission for the required retention period.

Question 9: May a duplicate copy of a record of duty status be submitted if an original was seized by an enforcement official?

Guidance: A driver must prepare a second original record of duty status to replace any page taken by an enforcement official. The driver should note that the first original had been taken by an enforcement official and the circumstances under which it was taken.

Question 10: What regulation, interpretation, and/or administrative ruling requires a motor carrier to retain supporting documents and what are those documents?

Guidance: §395.8(k)(1) requires motor carriers to retain all supporting documents at their principal places of business for a period of 6 months from date of receipt.

Supporting documents are the records of the motor carrier which are maintained in the ordinary course of business and used by the motor carrier to verify the information recorded on the driver's record of duty status. Examples are: Bills of lading, carrier pros, freight bills, dispatch records, driver call-in records, gate record receipts, weight/scale tickets, fuel receipts, fuel billing statements, toll receipts, international registration plan receipts, international fuel tax agreement receipts, trip permits, port of entry receipts, cash advance receipts, delivery receipts, lumper receipts, interchange and inspection reports, lessor settlement sheets, over/short and damage reports, agricultural inspection reports, CVSA reports, accident reports, telephone billing statements, credit card receipts, driver fax reports, on-board computer reports, border crossing reports, custom declarations, traffic citations, overweight/oversize reports and citations, and/or other documents directly related to the motor carrier's operation, which are retained by the motor carrier in connection with the operation of its transportation business. Supporting documents may include other documents which the motor carrier maintains and can be used to verify information on the driver's records of duty status. If these records are maintained at locations other than the principal place of business but are not used by the motor carrier for verification purposes, they must be forwarded to the principal place of business upon a request by an authorized representative of the FHWA or State official within 2 business days.

Question 11: Is a driver who works for a motor carrier on an occasional basis and who is regularly employed by a non-motor carrier entity required to submit either records of duty status or a signed statement regarding the hours of service for all on-duty time as "on- duty time" as defined by §395.2?

Guidance: Yes.

Question 12: May a driver use "white-out" liquid paper to correct a record of duty status entry?

Guidance: Any method of correction would be acceptable so long as it does not negate the obligation of the driver to certify by his or her signature that all entries were made by the driver and are true and correct.

Question 13: Are drivers required to draw continuous lines between the off-duty, sleeper berth, driving, and on-duty (not driving) lines on a record of duty status when changing their duty status?

Guidance: No. Under §395.8(h) the FMCSRs require that continuous lines be drawn between the appropriate time markers within each duty status line, but they do not require that continuous lines be drawn between the appropriate duty status lines when drivers change their duty status.

Question 14: What documents satisfy the requirement to show a shipping document number on a record of duty status as found in §395.8(d)(11)?

Guidance: The following are some of the documents acceptable to satisfy the requirement: shipping manifests, invoices/freight bills, trip reports, charter orders, special order numbers, bus bills or any other document that identifies a particular movement of passengers or cargo.

In the event of multiple shipments, a single document will satisfy the requirement. If a driver is dispatched on a trip, which is subsequently completed, and then is dispatched on another trip on that calendar day, two shipping document numbers or two shippers and commodities must be shown in the remarks section of the record of duty status.

Question 15: If a driver from a foreign country only operates in the U.S. one day a week, is he required to keep a record of duty status for every day?

Guidance: A foreign driver, when in the U.S., must produce a current record of duty status, and sufficient documentation to account for his duty time for the previous 6 days.

Question 16: Are drivers required to include their total on-duty time for the previous 7 to 8 days (as applicable) on the driver's record of duty status?

Guidance: No.

Question 17: Can military time be used on the grid portion of the driver's record of duty status?

Guidance: Yes. The references to 9 a.m., 3 p.m., etc. in §395.8(d)(6) are examples only. Military time is also acceptable.

Question 18: §395.8(d)(4) requires that the name of the motor carrier be shown on the driver's record of duty status. If a company owns more than one motor carrier subject to the FMCSRs, may the company use logs listing the names of all such motor carrier employers and require the driver to identify the carrier for which he or she drives?

Guidance: Yes, provided three conditions are met. First, the driver must identify his or her motor carrier employer by a method that would be visible on a photocopy of the log. A dark check mark by the carrier's name would be acceptable. However, a colored highlight of the name would not be acceptable, since these colors are often transparent to photocopiers.

Second, the driver may check off the name of the motor carrier employer only if he or she works for a single carrier during the 24 hour period covered by the log.

Third, if the parent company uses Multiday Logs (Form 139 or 139A), the log for each day must list all motor carrier employers and the driver must identify his or her carrier each day.

Question 19: Regulatory guidance issued by the Office of Motor Carriers states that a driver's record-of-duty-status (RODS) may be used as the 100 air-mile radius time record ". . . provided the form contains the mandatory information." Is this "mandatory information" that required of a normal RODS under §395.8(d) or that of the 100 air-mile radius exemption under §395.1(e)(5)?

Guidance: The "mandatory information" referred to is the time records specified by §395.1(e)(5) which must show: (1) The time the driver reports for duty each day; (2) the total number of hours the driver is on duty each day; (3) the time the driver is released from duty each day; and (4) the total time for the preceding 7 days in accordance with §395.8(j)(2) for drivers used for the first time or intermittently.

Using the RODS to comply with §395.1(e)(5) is not prohibited as long as the RODS contains driver identification, the date, the time the driver began work, the time the driver ended work, and the total hours on duty.

Question 20: When a driver fails to meet the provisions of the 100 air-mile radius exemption (§395.1(e)), is the driver required to have copies of his/her records of duty status for the previous seven days? Must the driver prepare daily records of duty status for the next seven days?

Guidance: The driver must only have in his/her possession a record of duty status for the day he/she does not qualify for the exemption. The record of duty status must cover the entire day, even if the driver has to record retroactively changes in status that occurred between the time that the driver reported for duty and the time in which he/she no longer qualified for the 100 air-mile radius exemption. This is the only way to ensure that a driver does not claim the right to drive 10 hours after leaving his/her exempt status, in addition to the hours already driven under the 100 air-mile exemption.

Question 21: What is the carrier's liability when its drivers falsify records of duty status?

Guidance: A carrier is liable both for the actions of its drivers in submitting false documents and for its own actions in accepting false documents. Motor carriers have a duty to require drivers to observe the FMCSRs.

Question 22: If a driver logs his/her duty status as "driving" but makes multiple short stops (each less than 15 minutes) for on-duty or off-duty activities, marks a vertical line on the grid for each stop, and records the elapsed time for each in the remarks section of the grid, would the aggregate time spent on those non-driving activities be counted against the 10-hour driving limit?

Guidance: No. On-duty not driving time or off-duty time is not counted against the 10-hour driving limit.

Question 23: When the driver's duty status changes, do §395.8(c) or 395.8(h)(5) require a description of on-duty not driving activities ("fueling," "pre-trip," "loading," "unloading,", etc.) in the remarks section in addition to the name of the nearest city, town or village followed by the State abbreviation?

Guidance: No. Many motor carriers require drivers to identify work performed during a change of duty status. Part 395 neither requires nor prohibits this practice.

Question 24: When must a driver complete the signature/ certification of the driver's record of duty status?

Guidance: In general, the driver must sign the record of duty status immediately after all required entries have been made for the 24-hour period. However, if the driver is driving at the end of the 24- hour period, he/she must sign during the next stop. A driver may also sign the record of duty status upon going off duty if he/she expects to remain off duty until the end of the 24-hour period.

Question 25: Is a driver (United States or foreign) required to maintain a record of duty status (log book) in a foreign country before entering the U.S.?

Guidance: No. The FHWA does not require drivers to prepare records of duty status while operating outside the jurisdiction of the United States. However, it may be advantageous for any driver (U.S. or foreign) to prepare records of duty status for short-term foreign trips. Upon entering the U.S., each driver must either: (a) Have in his/her possession a record of duty status current on the day of the examination showing the total hours worked for the prior seven consecutive days, including time spent outside the U.S.; or, (b) Demonstrate that he/she is operating as a "100 air-mile (161 air- kilometer) radius driver" under §395.1(e).

Question 26: If a driver is permitted to use a CMV for personal reasons, how must the driving time be recorded?

Guidance: When a driver is relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work, time spent traveling from a driver's home to his/her terminal (normal work reporting location), or from a driver's terminal to his/her home, may be considered off-duty time. Similarly, time spent traveling short distances from a driver's en route lodgings (such as en route terminals or motels) to restaurants in the vicinity of such lodgings may be considered off-duty time. The type of conveyance used from the terminal to the driver's home, from the driver's home to the terminal, or to restaurants in the vicinity of en route lodgings would not alter the situation unless the vehicle is laden. A driver may not operate a laden CMV as a personal conveyance. The driver who uses a motor carrier's CMV for transportation home, and is subsequently called by the employing carrier and is then dispatched from home, would be on-duty from the time the driver leaves home.

A driver placed out of service for exceeding the requirements of the hours of service regulations may not drive a CMV to any location to obtain rest.

Question 27: Would a driver who prepares his/her log on a computer, ‘digitally’ signs the log, and then transmits it directly to the carrier, be in compliance with 49 CFR §395.8(f)(2)?

Guidance: No. The driver’s activities must be recorded in accordance with the provisions of §395.8(f)(2). This section requires that all entries relating to driver’s duty status must be legible and in the driver’s own handwriting.

Question 28: May a driver use a computer to generate his or her record of duty status (log book) and then manually sign the computer printouts in lieu of handwritten logs?

Guidance: A driver may use a computer to generate the graph grid and entries for the record of duty status or log book, provided the computer-generated output includes the minimum information required by §395.8 and is formatted in accordance with the rules. In addition, the driver must:

1.       Be capable of printing the record of duty status for the current 24-hour period at the request of an enforcement officer.

2.       Print the record of duty status at the end of each 24-hour period, and sign it in his or her handwriting to certify that all entries required by this section are true and correct.

3.       Maintain a copy of printed and signed records of duty status for the previous 7 consecutive days and make it available for inspection at the request of an enforcement officer.