Paper log book for truck drivers
Type each change of duty status. You get the daily log grid from 49 CFR 395.8 with totals, an 8-day recap and hours-of-service warnings, ready to print and sign.
Changes of duty status
Add a change
Log sheet details for this day
Driver, carrier and home terminal
Enter every time in home terminal time, even in another time zone.
8-day recap
ELD malfunction
- Tell your carrier in writing within 24 hours. The print includes a notice to fill in.
- Fill in each of the 8 days below, unless you already have those records or can get them from the ELD.
- Keep paper logs until the ELD is fixed. Your carrier has 8 days to repair or replace it.
Print and sign
Sign each day in ink. The signature is yours to give: it says every entry is true.
Backup, removed items and clearing
Your logs are saved in this browser as you type. A backup file moves them to another phone or computer.
How the log is drawn
Each change is a time, one of the four lines and the city and state where it happened (395.8(c)). The line steps to the new row at that time, and the totals at the right edge add up to 24 hours.
Use your home terminal's time all day, even in another zone (395.8(f)(8)). When clocks spring forward the grid has no 2 a.m. hour and the day has 23 hours; when they fall back it has 25. FMCSA has no rule for this, so the page follows common practice and notes it in the remarks.
Example: the specimen log in the regulation
The note to 395.8 shows a run from Richmond, Virginia to Newark, New Jersey: on duty at 6 a.m., a minor accident in Fredericksburg, lunch in Baltimore, a delivery in Philadelphia, a sleeper break in Cherry Hill and paperwork until 8 p.m. It totals 11:00 off duty, 1:45 sleeper berth, 7:45 driving and 3:30 on duty. Open the specimen log or FMCSA's two-day sleeper berth split.
What the warnings check, and what they don't
For property-carrying drivers under 395.3: 11 hours of driving and the 14-hour window after 10 hours off, a 30-minute break after 8 hours of driving, and 60 hours in 7 days or 70 in 8 with the 34-hour restart. Sleeper berth splits (7/3, 8/2) are paired the way FMCSA's 2020 FAQ says: the pairing with no violations, or the fewest. An FMCSA FAQ of July 1, 2026 is reported to let a 10-hour rest with 7 in the sleeper pair with a later break of 2+ hours. FMCSA's site could not be read here, so a warning that only this pairing clears stays, marked as depending on it.
Not covered: the 150 air-mile short-haul exception, adverse driving conditions, agricultural and other 395.1 exceptions, the passenger seat option for teams, bus drivers (10 and 15 hours), state rules and Canada. The warnings are a check; you and your carrier are responsible for compliance.
Questions drivers ask
Who can keep paper logs instead of an ELD?
Under 395.8(a)(1)(ii): drivers who keep logs on no more than 8 days in any 30, driveaway-towaway drivers delivering the vehicle they drive (or a motor home or RV trailer), and drivers of vehicles made before model year 2000. Any driver uses paper while an ELD is broken.
What do I do when my ELD stops working?
Tell your carrier in writing within 24 hours, rebuild today and the previous 7 days on graph-grid paper logs, and keep logging on paper until the ELD is fixed (395.34(a)). The carrier must repair or replace it within 8 days unless FMCSA gives more time.
Is a log printed from a phone legal?
Yes, if you make the entries and sign it. FMCSA guidance on 395.8 (question 28, July 10, 2014) lets a driver use a computer, tablet or phone program that draws the grid, if the output has everything 395.8 asks for. Without an electronic signature, print and sign each day.
How do I fill out the 8-day recap?
For 70 hours in 8 days: A is your on-duty time over the last 7 days including today, B is 70 minus A (what you can work tomorrow), and C is the last 8 days. For 60 in 7 the same works over 6 and 7 days. A 34-hour break starts the count again.
How does the sleeper berth split work?
Take at least 7 hours in a row in the sleeper and a separate break of at least 2 hours, off duty or in the sleeper, adding up to 10 or more. Neither break counts against the 14 hours, and your hours count from the end of the first break (395.1(g)(1)).
How long do I keep my logs?
Keep the last 7 days with you while on duty and send each log to your carrier within 13 days. The carrier keeps them for 6 months (395.8(a)(2) and (k)).
Are the hours of service rules changing?
Not for most drivers. In September 2025 FMCSA proposed two pilot programs, one for more ways to split sleeper berth time and one to pause the 14-hour window for up to 3 hours, each for about 256 enrolled drivers. In October 2026 they were still at the comment stage.
Sources
49 CFR 395.1, 395.3, 395.8, 395.34 (eCFR, read Oct 24, 2026). 79 FR 39342. FMCSA HOS fact sheets. Pilots: 90 FR 44790, 90 FR 44872.