49 CFR 395.8: Records of duty status

What the cited provisions say

49 CFR 395.8(d) requires the date, driving mileage, vehicle identification, carrier name, driver certification, period starting time, main office address, remarks, co-driver name, duty totals, and shipping-document numbers or shipper and commodity. Under 49 CFR 395.8(f)(1), (2), and (7), entries must remain current through the last duty-status change, be legible and driver-made, and carry the driver's signed certification. Under 49 CFR 395.8(f)(8) and (11), records use the home terminal's time standard, and duty-status totals must equal 24 hours.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]}

49 CFR 395.8(c) requires a locality and State abbreviation for status changes, with specified highway-location alternatives outside a locality. 49 CFR 395.8(e)(1) prohibits drivers and motor carriers from making false duty-status reports; paragraphs (e)(2) and (3) prohibit interference with signals or tampering with an ELD, including permitting or requiring another person to do so, such that the device does not accurately record and retain required data. Under 49 CFR 395.8(k), carriers retain records and supporting documents for at least 6 months after receipt; drivers carry the previous 7 consecutive days of records for inspection while on duty.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]}

Who and what the provisions cover

49 CFR 390.3T(a)(1) establishes applicability to employers, employees, and commercial motor vehicles transporting property or passengers in interstate commerce, subject to the exceptions in 49 CFR 390.3T(f). Under 49 CFR 395.1(a), the part applies to motor carriers and drivers subject to its stated exceptions. The definition in 49 CFR 390.5T identifies a driver as a person operating a commercial motor vehicle and includes both for-hire and private operators within motor carrier.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]}

Under 49 CFR 395.2, driving time encompasses time at the driving controls of an operating commercial motor vehicle; a sleeper berth is defined by reference to 49 CFR 393.76, whose requirements are not supplied here. Under 49 CFR 395.8(j)(1), when multiple motor carriers use a driver's services during a 24-hour period in effect at the driver's home terminal, the driver must submit each carrier a copy showing all duty time for that entire period, each carrier's name, and beginning and finishing times worked for each carrier, including a.m. or p.m. Under 49 CFR 395.8(j)(2), a motor carrier using a driver for the first time or intermittently must obtain the driver's signed statement of total time on duty during the immediately preceding 7 days and the time the driver was last relieved from duty before beginning work for the carrier.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]}

Conditions and exceptions

Under 49 CFR 395.8(a)(1)(ii)(A), a motor carrier may require manual duty-status records instead of an ELD when the driver operates a commercial motor vehicle in a manner requiring records on no more than 8 days within any 30-day period; in a driveaway-towaway operation in which the driven vehicle is part of the shipment being delivered; in a driveaway-towaway operation transporting a motor home or recreation vehicle trailer; or when the vehicle was manufactured before model year 2000, as reflected in the VIN shown on its registration; paragraph (a)(1)(ii)(B) requires duplicate records on the specified grid for each 24-hour period requiring recording. Under 49 CFR 395.8(a)(1)(i) and (iii), December 18, 2017 separates the ELD requirement from the earlier recording alternatives.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]}

Under 49 CFR 395.1(e)(1), exemption from §§ 395.8 and 395.11 requires operation within a 150 air-mile radius (172.6 statute miles) of the normal work reporting location; return to that location and release within 14 consecutive hours, except for a driver-salesperson; at least 10 consecutive hours off duty for property-carrying drivers or 8 for passenger-carrying drivers separating each 14 hours on duty; and carrier maintenance and retention for 6 months of accurate and true daily reporting times, total on-duty hours, release times, and preceding 7-day duty totals under § 395.8(j)(2) for drivers used for the first time or intermittently. Under 49 CFR 395.1(e)(1)(iv), that exemption also requires carrier retention for 6 months of accurate reporting, release, and daily duty times, plus preceding 7 days of duty time for first-time or intermittent drivers.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]}

Under 49 CFR 395.1(i), § 395.8 does not apply to a driver driving a commercial motor vehicle in Hawaii if the employing motor carrier maintains and retains for 6 months accurate and true records of daily total on-duty hours and daily reporting and release times. Other saved exceptions in 49 CFR 395.1 have distinct operational conditions.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]}

Related provisions in the saved sources

49 CFR 395.11(a) and (b), effective December 18, 2017, require supporting-document submission within 13 days of the relevant 24-hour period or receipt, whichever is later, except for nonbusiness private passenger-carrier drivers. Under 49 CFR 395.11(e), carriers must preserve the ability to match documents to duty records. Under 49 CFR 395.13(b)(2), a driver required to maintain records under § 395.8 must have a record current for the examination day and the prior 7 consecutive days; paragraph (b)(3) provides an opportunity to make the record current when the driver's only failure is possession of current records for the examination day and prior day and the previous 6 days' records are complete.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]}

Under 49 CFR 395.34(a), a driver experiencing an ELD malfunction must note it and notify the motor carrier in writing within 24 hours; reconstruct the current 24-hour period and previous 7 consecutive days on graph-grid paper logs complying with § 395.8 unless the driver already possesses those records or they are retrievable from the ELD; and continue manual recording under § 395.8 until the ELD is serviced and brought back into compliance with subpart B. Under 49 CFR 395.34(d)(1), correction is due within 8 days of discovery or driver notification, whichever occurs first; 49 CFR 395.34(d)(2) through (5) provide a conditional extension-request process.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]}

Source date and limits

The saved-source date is 2026-11-06. This entry has a statute-only scope, limited here to the supplied federal regulatory text from the National Archives and Records Administration, Office of the Federal Register eCFR sources. It does not represent verification of the law on any later date. Judicial interpretation, administrative decisions, and application to a particular driver's circumstances are outside this entry.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]}

The saved text of 49 CFR 395.8(g) calls for a graph grid, but the supplied material does not reproduce its visual layout. The editorial note accompanying 49 CFR 395.8 points to a separate amendment-history resource; that resource's contents are not supplied. Cross-references to unsaved provisions are identified without reconstructing their requirements. This summary is not an exhaustive treatment of every operational exception in the supplied sources. It provides general reference information about duty-status records, not legal advice or a determination of compliance, fault, liability, coverage, or damages.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]}

See also

• FMCSA and federal trucking rules

On related publications

• Texas truck accident statistics (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyers.wiki)
• Georgia DPS adoption of federal motor carrier safety rules (atlantatruckaccidentlawyers.wiki)
• https://flanaganlaw.wiki/practice-areas/truck-accidents/ (flanaganlaw.wiki)