Yes. The Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration has issued specific regulations that require a motor carrier to require each driver that is used by the motor carrier to record the driver’s duty status for each 24-hour period using a method that they have approved.
The motor carrier must require its drivers to record the driver’s duty status by using
- an electronic log device
- an automatic on-board recording device
- manually recorded on a specific grid.
The duty status shall be recorded as follows:
- “Off duty” or “OFF”
- “Sleeper berth” or “SB” (only if sleeper berth used)
- “Driving” or “D”
- “On-duty not driving” or “ON”
For each change of duty status, the name of the city, town, or village, with State abbreviation, shall be recorded. The following information must be included on the form in addition to the grid:
- Date
- Total miles driving today
- Truck or tractor and trailer number
- Name of Carrier
- Driver’s Signature/certification
- 24-hour period starting time
- Main office address
- Remarks
- Name of co-driver
- Total hours
- Shipping document numbers or name of shipper and commodity
Additionally, the regulations specifically provide that no driver or motor carrier may make a false report in connection with a duty status. The provision goes on to provide that no driver or motor carrier may disable, deactivate, disengage, jam or otherwise block or degrade a signal transmission or reception or otherwise tamper with an automatic on-board recording device.