[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 49, Volume 5]

[Revised as of October 1, 2005]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 49CFR395.15]



[Page 461-463]

 

                        TITLE 49--TRANSPORTATION

 

                      DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

 

PART 395_HOURS OF SERVICE OF DRIVERS--Table of Contents

 

Sec. 395.15  Automatic on-board recording devices.



    (a) Authority to use automatic on-board recording device. (1) A 

motor carrier may require a driver to use an automatic on-board 

recording device to record the driver's hours of service in lieu of 

complying with the requirements of Sec. 395.8 of this part.

    (2) Every driver required by a motor carrier to use an automatic on-

board recording device shall use such device to record the driver's 

hours of service.

    (b) Information requirements. (1) Automatic on-board recording 

devices shall produce, upon demand, a driver's hours of service chart, 

electronic display, or printout showing the time and sequence of duty 

status changes including the drivers' starting time at the beginning of 

each day.

    (2) The device shall provide a means whereby authorized Federal, 

State, or local officials can immediately check the status of a driver's 

hours of service. This information may be used in conjunction with 

handwritten or printed records of duty status, for the previous 7 days.

    (3) Support systems used in conjunction with on-board recorders at a 

driver's home terminal or the motor carrier's principal place of 

business must be capable of providing authorized Federal, State or local 

officials with summaries of an individual driver's hours of service 

records, including the information specified in Sec. 395.8(d) of this 

part. The support systems must also provide information concerning on-

board system sensor failures and identification of edited data. Such 

support systems should meet the information interchange requirements of 

the American National Standard Code for Information Interchange (ANSCII) 

(EIARS-232/CCITT V.24 port (National Bureau of Standards ``Code for 

Information Interchange,'' FIPS PUB 1-1)).

    (4) The driver shall have in his/her possession records of duty 

status for the previous 7 consecutive days available for inspection 

while on duty. These records shall consist of information stored in and 

retrievable from the automatic on-board recording device, handwitten 

records, computer generated records, or any combination thereof.

    (5) All hard copies of the driver's record of duty status must be 

signed by



[[Page 462]]



the driver. The driver's signature certifies that the information 

contained thereon is true and correct.

    (c) The duty status and additional information shall be recorded as 

follows:

    (1) ``Off duty'' or ``OFF'', or by an identifiable code or 

character;

    (2) ``Sleeper berth'' or ``SB'' or by an identifiable code or 

character (only if the sleeper berth is used);

    (3) ``Driving'' or ``D'', or by an identifiable code or character; 

and

    (4) ``On-duty not driving'' or ``ON'', or by an identifiable code or 

character.

    (5) Date;

    (6) Total miles driving today;

    (7) Truck or tractor and trailer number;

    (8) Name of carrier;

    (9) Main office address;

    (10) 24-hour period starting time (e.g., midnight, 9:00 a.m., noon, 

3:00 p.m.)

    (11) Name of co-driver;

    (12) Total hours; and

    (13) Shipping document number(s), or name of shipper and commodity.

    (d) Location of duty status change. (1) For each change of duty 

status (e.g., the place and time of reporting for work, starting to 

drive, on-duty not driving and where released from work), the name of 

the city, town, or village, with State abbreviation, shall be recorded.

    (2) Motor carriers are permitted to use location codes in lieu of 

the requirements of paragraph (d)(1) of this section. A list of such 

codes showing all possible location identifiers shall be carried in the 

cab of the commercial motor vehicle and available at the motor carrier's 

principal place of business. Such lists shall be made available to an 

enforcement official on request.

    (e) Entries made by driver only. If a driver is required to make 

written entries relating to the driver's duty status, such entries must 

be legible and in the driver's own handwriting.

    (f) Reconstruction of records of duty status. Drivers are required 

to note any failure of automatic on-board recording devices, and to 

reconstruct the driver's record of duty status for the current day, and 

the past 7 days, less any days for which the drivers have records, and 

to continue to prepare a handwritten record of all subsequent duty 

status until the device is again operational.

    (g) On-board information. Each commercial motor vehicle must have 

on-board the commercial motor vehicle an information packet containing 

the following items:

    (1) An instruction sheet describing in detail how data may be stored 

and retrieved from an automatic on-board recording system; and

    (2) A supply of blank driver's records of duty status graph-grids 

sufficient to record the driver's duty status and other related 

information for the duration of the current trip.

    (h) Submission of driver's record of duty status. (1) The driver 

shall submit, electronically or by mail, to the employing motor carrier, 

each record of the driver's duty status within 13 days following the 

completion of each record;

    (2) The driver shall review and verify that all entries are accurate 

prior to submission to the employing motor carrier; and

    (3) The submission of the record of duty status certifies that all 

entries made by the driver are true and correct.

    (i) Performance of recorders. Motor carriers that use automatic on-

board recording devices for recording their drivers' records of duty 

status in lieu of the handwritten record shall ensure that:

    (1) A certificate is obtained from the manufacturer certifying that 

the design of the automatic on-board recorder has been sufficiently 

tested to meet the requirements of this section and under the conditions 

it will be used;

    (2) The automatic on-board recording device permits duty status to 

be updated only when the commercial motor vehicle is at rest, except 

when registering the time a commercial motor vehicle crosses a State 

boundary;

    (3) The automatic on-board recording device and associated support 

systems are, to the maximum extent practicable, tamperproof and do not 

permit altering of the information collected concerning the driver's 

hours of service;

    (4) The automatic on-board recording device warns the driver 

visually and/or audibly that the device has ceased to



[[Page 463]]



function. Devices installed and operational as of October 31, 1988, and 

authorized to be used in lieu of the handwritten record of duty status 

by the FMCSA are exempted from this requirement.

    (5) Automatic on-board recording devices with electronic displays 

shall have the capability of displaying the following:

    (i) Driver's total hours of driving today;

    (ii) The total hours on duty today;

    (iii) Total miles driving today;

    (iv) Total hours on duty for the 7 consecutive day period, including 

today;

    (v) Total hours on duty for the prior 8 consecutive day period, 

including the present day; and

    (vi) The sequential changes in duty status and the times the changes 

occurred for each driver using the device.

    (6) The on-board recorder is capable of recording separately each 

driver's duty status when there is a multiple-driver operation;

    (7) The on-board recording device/system identifies sensor failures 

and edited data when reproduced in printed form. Devices installed and 

operational as of October 31, 1988, and authorized to be used in lieu of 

the handwritten record of duty status by the FMCSA are exempted from 

this requirement.

    (8) The on-board recording device is maintained and recalibrated in 

accordance with the manufacturer's specifications;

    (9) The motor carrier's drivers are adequately trained regarding the 

proper operation of the device; and

    (10) The motor carrier must maintain a second copy (back-up copy) of 

the electronic hours-of-service files, by month, in a different physical 

location than where the original data is stored.

    (j) Rescission of authority. (1) The FMCSA may, after notice and 

opportunity to reply, order any motor carrier or driver to comply with 

the requirements of Sec. 395.8 of this part.

    (2) The FMCSA may issue such an order if the FMCSA has determined 

that--

    (i) The motor carrier has been issued a conditional or 

unsatisfactory safety rating by the FMCSA;

    (ii) The motor carrier has required or permitted a driver to 

establish, or the driver has established, a pattern of exceeding the 

hours of service limitations of this part;

    (iii) The motor carrier has required or permitted a driver to fail, 

or the driver has failed, to accurately and completely record the 

driver's hours of service as required in this section; or

    (iv) The motor carrier or driver has tampered with or otherwise 

abused the automatic on-board recording device on any commercial motor 

vehicle.



[53 FR 38670, Sept. 30, 1988, as amended at 60 FR 38748, July 28, 1995; 

68 FR 22516, Apr. 28, 2003; 70 FR 50073, Aug. 25, 2005]