Chapter 7 set the limits; this is the object that proves you kept them. Under § 395.8, a motor carrier subject to Part 395 must require each of its drivers to record their duty status for each 24-hour period — the one narrow exception being a private motor carrier of passengers operating non-business. The record itself is a graph grid: a marked-out 24-hour timeline with a row for each duty status, on which a continuous line is drawn between the time markers for each period. There are four statuses and only four: off duty, sleeper berth (shown only if one is used), driving, and on-duty not driving. Those are the same categories § 395.2 uses to define the limits, which is the point of the whole exercise: the record is written in the units the rules are written in, so a completed day either fits inside the limits or visibly does not.

§ 395.8(f) then sets out how the driver’s activities must be recorded, and the list is longer than most drivers expect. The date beginning the 24-hour period. Total miles driven that day. The vehicle identification — the number the carrier assigned, or the license number and licensing State, and for a combination, that information for each unit in it. The name of every motor carrier worked for, with beginning and finishing times against each name where there was more than one. The carrier’s main office address. The total hours in each status entered to the right of the grid, which must add to 24. The shipping document number, or the name of the shipper and the commodity. And at every change of duty status, the location: the city, town or village and State, or, where the change happens away from one, a highway number and milepost, service plaza, or nearest intersection tied to the nearest named place. Entries must be legible and made by the driver — nobody else.

The last requirement is the one that turns the record into a legal statement. The driver signs it, and § 395.8(f)(7) says that signature certifies that all entries required by the section are true and correct. From there the record travels: the driver must submit it to the motor carrier within 13 days of the 24-hour period it covers, must keep a copy of the previous 7 consecutive days in their possession and available for inspection while on duty, and the carrier must retain records of duty status and their supporting documents for not less than 6 months from the date of receipt. Supporting documents are the paper trail that lets on-duty not driving time be checked against something other than the driver’s word — § 395.11 requires the driver to submit them within 13 days of the 24-hour period or of the day the document reaches them, whichever is later, and names the categories the carrier retains: bills of lading, itineraries or schedules showing where each trip began and ended; dispatch and trip records; expense receipts related to on-duty not driving time; fleet-management mobile communication records; and payroll or settlement documents. A carrier need not retain more than eight of them for any one driver’s 24-hour period.