Source: https://cms.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/title49/section/395.8
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 21:00:37+00:00

Document:
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).
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.
Section 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.
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: No. Under §395.8(h) the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (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: Yes. The references to 9:00 A.M., 3:00 P.M., etc. in §395.8(d)(6) are examples only. Military time is also acceptable.
Question 18: Section 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 Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (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?
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 section 395.8(d) or that of the 100 air-mile radius exemption under section 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.
Question 20: When a driver fails to meet the provisions of the 100 air-mile radius exemption (section 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?
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.
Guidance: No. The Federal Highway Administration 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).
No. Although 49 CFR 395.8(a)(1) states, "Every driver who operates a commercial motor vehicle [in interstate commerce] shall record his/her duty status, in duplicate, for each 24-hour period," the intent of the requirement may be fulfilled through the electronic submission of a scanned image of the original handwritten RODS to the regular employing motor carrier within 13 days following the completion of the form, while the driver retains the original records for the current day and the previous 7 consecutive days. Because existing regulations concerning the preservation of records (49 CFR 390.31) allow motor carriers to store electronically a scanned image of the original handwritten RODS submitted by drivers and essentially dispose of the original paper document, there is no adverse impact on the enforcement of the HOS regulations, and subsequently no compromise on the application of the safety requirement by allowing the driver to submit a scanned image of the original signed RODS to the regular employing motor carrier within 13 days of the completion of the record. Motor carriers must maintain the scanned image of the signed RODS and all supporting documents for each driver for a period of six months from the date of receipt (49 CFR 395.8(k)).

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