Truckers and Their Driving Logs:
Compliance or Defiance?
By
Robert Altman
In every personal injury and wrongful death case involving interstate truckers, a close scrutiny of Driver's Daily Logs and hours of service issues is essential to support the case against the truck driver and, perhaps more importantly, the truck company. A thorough analysis of the Driver's Daily Logs, and related documents, will oftentimes reveal serious violations by drivers of federal regulations, as well as company policies and practices, which can lead to serious claims against the truckers and their trucking companies and indicate complicity by the trucking companies.
Today, when there is a serious crash involving an interstate trucker, it is possible, if not likely, that the trucking company and its insurer, will have a "swat team" of investigators, attorneys, reconstructionists and engineers on the scene before the debris is cleared and the victims carted away.
The trucking company is likely to move quickly to shore up its defenses and take action to obstruct full discovery of the conduct that lead to the disaster.
Driver's Daily Logs must be kept by all interstate truck drivers pursuant to the provisions of 49 C.F.R. §395.8. Copies of the logs must be maintained for six months after their receipt by the trucking company, before they can be destroyed. 49 C.F.R. §395.8(k). It is essential to obtain logs from the date of the collision, going back as far as possible, to get a thorough picture of the driver's activities prior to the crash and his practices in the weeks and months leading up to the crash.
In evaluating the Driver's Daily Logs there are three essential analyses that should be made. They are:
1) Evaluation of the information on the logs to determine whether the logs reflect violations of federal hours of service regulations, or other conduct indicative of intentional impropriety or negligent conduct or practices by the driver or company;
2) Comparison of the logs with other available information to determine whether falsification of the logs has taken place; and
3) Analysis of Department of Transportation reviews of the truck company to determine whether the trucking company has promoted or acquiesced in other violations of federal hours of service regulations.
Hours of Service Regulations
The hours of service regulations, found at 49 C.F.R. §395, are summarized into the 10, 15, and 60/70 hour rules.
10 and 15 Hour Rules. After driving time of 10 hours, or 15 hours on-duty, a driver must have 8 consecutive hours off-duty. This may be accomplished in any of four different ways:
1. Eight consecutive hours off-duty;
2. Eight consecutive hours in the sleeper berth;
3. Eight consecutive hours combined sleeper berth and off-duty time; or
4. Two separate sleeper berth periods totaling eight hours, but the shorter of the two periods cannot be less than two hours, and driving time before and after each sleeper berth period cannot exceed ten hours.
60/70 Hour Rule. A driver cannot drive after being on duty 60 hours in any consecutive seven-day period. The only exception to this is if vehicles are operated seven days per week, the maximum hours are extended to 70 in any eight (8) day period.
Reviewing the Driver's Daily Logs.
An example of a Driver's Daily Log is found at Exhibit "1." Going through the log, starting in the upper left-hand corner, the following information is found:
1. Date. There must be one log per 24 hour daily period. The date of the log must be filled in in the upper left hand corner.
2. Total Miles Today. To the right of the date is a space for the driver to enter the total miles he has driven in the 24 hour period. In this case the driver has entered "600" miles.
This is a very important bit of information. From this figure, and the total time driven, you can determine the driver's average speed. In the case of the driver in Exhibit "1," the trucker drove 600 miles in 10 hours, showing an average speed of 60 miles per hour.
Obviously, this is a great deal of driving, particularly if the driver goes through urban areas, 55 mile per hour zones, or if the driver stops for a lunch break, to fuel, or to go to the rest room.
Dispatchers, terminal managers and other truck company supervisors usually have a figure of between 500 and 600 miles which raises a red flag about the amount of driving being done. More importantly, such figures raise questions about whether a driver is falsifying his logs. Any consistent driving of over 500 miles per 10 hour day should be enough to cause the truck company to conduct further investigation of the driver's activities.
In any event, when a driver records that he is driving more than 500 miles per day, counsel is alerted to the possibility that: 1) The driver is falsifying his logs; 2) The driver is driving too fast; 3) The company is promoting either the falsification of logs or fast driving; and 4) The company is failing to act upon evidence suggesting that the driver is driving outside federal, state or trucking company guidelines.
3. Other items above the grid. The driver also must complete all of the other blanks on the form, including names of all carriers he drove for during the day, the tractor number, the trailer number, the name of any co-driver and the total miles driven on that day. The driver must sign the form with his full name. This is significant for trial and impeachment because the driver, by his signature, is certifying that the "entries are true and correct."
If any of these items are blank, or if the entries are inconsistent with other evidence, further investigation is warranted. The seriousness of failing to complete the form or making false reports with regard to duty status is indicated by the fact that such failures are subject to prosecution. 49 C.F.R. §395(e).
4. The Grid.
The Graph Grid is the meat of the Driver's Daily Log. It is designed to reflect the driver's status at all times during the 24 hour day.
The driver is required to record whether he is "off duty," in his "sleeper berth," "driving," or "on duty (but not driving)", for all times during the 24 hour period. In addition, the driver must record the location where his duty status changes in the space below the grid. If a driver is falsifying his logs, the graph grid will be a primary piece of evidence in the puzzle.
Let's examine the possible duty status entries.
a. Off Duty.
Off Duty status may be recorded only when a driver is no longer "on duty," as "on duty time" is defined at 49 C.F.R. §395.2, and no longer has responsibility for the vehicle and its cargo.
49 C.F.R. §395.2 states that "On duty time means all time from the time a driver begins work or is required to be in readiness to work until the time he/she is relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work."
Thus, a driver is "on duty" is on duty when he is inspecting his vehicle, loading and unloading the vehicle, repairing the vehicle, otherwise attending his vehicle and when he is doing any other work for his carrier or others. Even for a meal stop, this usually means that the driver must have written authorization relieving him from responsibility for the vehicle and its cargo, in order for the time to be considered Off Duty time.
Drivers are not always clear on the breadth of "on duty" time and discovery should be carefully conducted to determine that the grid has been properly completed.
b. Sleeper Berth
Sleeper Berth status may be recorded when a driver has entered the sleeper berth area of his vehicle for rest and sleep. Since sleeper berth time is used in calculating how much time a driver may spend driving, it is an important element of non-driving time.
Also, since the driver must note his location during Sleeper Berth time (as well as his location when he goes off duty), it is important to review charge receipts, fuel receipts and other evidence of a driver's activities to see whether the driver really was in his sleeper berth during the time indicated on his Driver's Daily Log. The federal regulations require actual presence in the sleeper berth during time charted as Sleeper Berth time, so any evidence of food, fuel or other purchases during time charted as Sleeper Berth time is strong evidence of log falsification.
In one recent case, counsel obtained receipts indicating that a driver involved in a serious wreck had regularly been charging food and fuel in cities distant from the locations indicated on the driver's logs as Sleeper Berth time. This evidence led to an admission by the trucking company that the driver had been falsifying his logs and that the company had been negligent in not discovering that fact.
In an effort to spot log falsification, counsel should be aware of the fact that it is standard practice in the trucking industry for companies to regularly and/or randomly check Driver's Daily Logs against other evidence of driver's activities and location, such as fuel and food receipts.
c. Driving.
All driving time must be reflected on the Driver's Daily Log. A cursory review can give an indication as to whether a driver drove more hours than permitted under the federal regulations, or whether a driver could have driven the distance between two cities identified on the logs in the number of hours shown Driving time.
Among the analyses that can be done of Driving time is an evaluation of the location where a driver starts driving (as indicated on the log), the amount of time driven, and the next stopping point, to determine whether the distance could have been traveled in he time indicated.
d. On Duty (Not Driving).
Time spent on duty, but not driving, is charted on this line. Such time might include pre-driving inspections and other on duty related activities.
5. Other Entries Associated with the Grid.
Note that on the right hand side of the grid there is an area for entry of "Total Hours" for each of the grid related activities. This is an easy way to do a quick assessment of driver time.
Below the grid is the area where the driver enters his location when he has a change of duty status. As discussed below, these entries are important to a full analysis of the Driver's Daily Logs.
Looking for logging violations.
The first step in log analysis is a review to determine whether hours of service violations exist on the face of the Driver's Daily Logs. This is to determine whether the 10, 15 and 60/70 hour rules, discussed above, have been violated.
As noted, the regulations require that a driver get eight (8) consecutive hours of off duty time after completing a duty period that may not exceed 15 hours during which time the driver may not drive more than 10 hours.
The regulations allow the driver to accumulate the required off duty hours in a number ways. These include 8 consecutive hours off duty, 8 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth, or a combination of sleeper berth and off duty time.
Thus, in the first instance, counsel is looking for driving periods that exceed 10 hours in a 24 hours period, and 10 hour driving periods which are not followed by 8 hours of consecutive off duty time before the driver starts to drive again.
Compliance with the 60/70 hour rule is more difficult to evaluate since it involves ongoing evaluation of on duty time over a number of days. Note that on the Driver's Daily Log reflected in Exhibit "1," the driver has made his own calculation of the number of hours available to him in the lower right area below the grid. In this case the driver calculated that he had 27.5 hours left within the 60/70 hour rule.
Where to look for log falsification.
The second analysis is a review for driver falsification. This review starts by obtaining as much documentation as possible about a driver's actual location and activities during the time covered by the Driver's Daily Logs.
This information can be found on many documents maintained by trucking companies.
Many truck companies allow their drivers to use Comdata charge cards. Comdata is a company located in Brentwood, Tennessee that provides charge services for trucking companies and their drivers. Comdata maintains a computerized record of all charges, including the name of the driver, date, time, location and amount of the charge. This centralized information provides invaluable data for cross referencing the information recorded by the driver on his Driver's Daily Logs.
Further, many truck companies receive this same data from Comdata on a daily basis. If it does, there is no excuse for any failure to do periodic checks to determine whether drivers are falsifying their logs. The trucking industry accepts this cross check as a standard method of reviewing driver compliance with hours of service regulations.
In addition, truck companies require their drivers to complete various forms that might serve as another check on the Driver's Daily Logs. Such forms as Daily Trip Reports, toll records, and pay submissions require drivers to give detailed information about routes driven, miles driven, times state borders are crossed, and odometer readings at various times and locations.
All such documents should be identified and obtained for review against the Driver's Daily Logs. A pattern of log falsification is deadly evidence against a truck driver and damning to the truck company that either condones such activity or fails to uncover it.
The Federal Highway Administration is currently considering a proposal to amend Part 395 to add a definition of "Supporting documents," and to require that the type of supporting documents discussed here be retained for at least six months. Such an amendment to Part 395 would significantly improve the ability to monitor hours of service requirements.
Uncovering Federal DOT, internal and insurance company reviews.
The federal Department of Transportation does periodic reviews of trucking company practices. Such a review may be initiated by the DOT on a random basis or because of a complaint against the trucking company.
In either event it is essential to obtain all DOT reviews of the trucking company, and the company's written responses to the reviews, to see whether the company has had hours of service (or other) problems in the past and, if so, whether the problems were adequately addressed.
Such reviews should be producible from the trucking company. Another source is by way of a Freedom of Information Act request addressed to:
Freedom of Information Act
Compliance Officer
Federal Highway Administration
400 7th Street, SW
Washington, D.C. 20590
Of equal importance are internal reviews conducted by the trucking company. Many large trucking companies will conduct an internal review if problems are detected. Hours of service problems may relate to a particular terminal, or may be company wide. In either event it is important to seek and obtain all internal reviews, reports and other documents related to internal review of hours of service problems.
A third source of such reviews is the insurance companies involved in your case. Some insurance companies will conduct reviews of the trucking company in order to assist the company in its safety program and, no doubt, in an effort to reduce the number of claims to which the insurer is exposed. These reviews are crucial to obtain, both because they can expose persistent hours of service problems, and because they may provide evidence of the insurer’s involvement in the truck company’s safety program.
It is important to consider the possibility of bringing an insurer into a case as a named party if the insurer has actively participated in the evaluation of a company's safety or hours of service program, and negligently failed to detect problems or seek change in improper activities.
Conclusion
A review of the Driver's Daily Logs and possible hours of service violations is essential in every case involving interstate trucking. Such an analysis can form the centerpiece of the Plaintiff's case against the truck and the trucking company.
Copyright 1998 by Robert Altman