• If a driver is off duty for a weekend, a holiday period of several days, or even a two-week vacation, one log can be used by entering the inclusive dates and showing “off duty” for 24 hours on the graph grid.

The regulations require the recording of a driver’s duty status for “each 24-hour period.” Drivers are allowed, however, to record more than one consecutive day off on the same log.

For example, if a driver is off duty for a weekend, a holiday period of several days, or even a two-week vacation, one log can be used by entering the inclusive dates and showing “off duty” for 24 hours on the graph grid. This is true even if the time off stretches into a new calendar month.

On a paper log, it is recommended that the driver multiply the number of days off duty by 24 and enter the result in the “Total Hours” column (such as “72” for 3 days off).

If, due to time off, a motor carrier does not have a full record of a driver’s time over the prior seven consecutive days before the driver returns to driving (whether recorded on paper or electronic logs), the company must “fill in the gaps” by getting a signed statement of the driver’s on-duty time during those seven days and the time at which the driver was last relieved from duty. (395.8(j)(2)).