Drivers need to keep track of the time they are spending behind the wheel, and a driver’s daily log book does just that. Essential for long-distance drivers, it is a record of hours driven, rest periods taken, and other important information necessary for filing reports to various governing agencies.
While not required for everyday people (who travel back and forth to work), having your own log book can be beneficial if there ends up being any dispute as to when you arrived at particular locations or if a violation occurred during your travels. Keeping such records can serve as invaluable evidence in case matters ever become clouded or unclear.
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Download Free Driver Log Book Templates
What is a Drivers’ Daily Log Book?
A Driver’s Daily Log Book helps truck drivers track and log their hours of service as required by law. It is a detailed record of the driver’s work activities over a designated time period, which includes rest breaks, drive times, sleeper berth times, and off-duty periods. Drivers can use the Log Book to document their locations, distances traveled, and pick-up and delivery times in order to demonstrate compliance with federal safety regulations.
The purpose of maintaining a Driver’s Daily Log Book is to prevent fatigue-related collisions caused by long hours behind the wheel. Keeping a detailed record of driving times also reduces the risk of fines for violating worktime restrictions under the Hours of Service Regulations. By creating a Driver’s Daily Log Book and tracking driving patterns every day, employers can ensure that their drivers stay safe on the road.
Why Keep a Log Book?
There are two main reasons why it’s important for truck drivers to keep an accurate and up-to-date log book. First, it helps ensure that drivers are complying with FMCSA hours-of-service regulations. These regulations govern the maximum number of hours a driver can be on duty, as well as the minimum amount of time they must spend off duty. Second, a log book can be used as a valuable record in the event of an accident or other incident.
How to Keep a Log Book
Here are some tips on how to keep an accurate and up-to-date driver daily log book:
- Use a paper or electronic logbook: Many trucking companies now require their drivers to use electronic logbooks, but paper logs are still allowed. If you’re using a paper log book, be sure to fill it out in ink so that it can’t be altered later.
- Record all required information: Drivers must record their name, date, total hours on duty, total miles driven, and time spent on breaks.
- Make entries at the end of each day: Be sure to make all entries at the end of each day, rather than trying to remember what happened earlier in the week. This will help ensure accuracy.
- Keep your logbook up-to-date: It’s important to stay current, so be sure to update your logbook every day.
- Know the regulations: Familiarize yourself with the FMCSA hours-of-service regulations so that you can stay compliant.
Benefits of Using a Drivers Daily Log Book
A driver’s daily log book, also called a DOT log book, is an essential tool for any commercial driver. This simple notebook can help you stay compliant with DOT hours of service regulations, track your mileage, and even plan your routes. Keep reading to learn more about the benefits of using a driver’s daily log book.
Compliance with DOT Hours of Service Regulations
One of the biggest benefits of using a driver’s daily log book is that it helps you stay compliant with DOT hours of service regulations. These regulations govern how many hours a driver can be on duty in a day and in a week, as well as how many hours must be spent off duty between shifts. Drivers who don’t comply with these regulations can face serious penalties, including fines and suspension of their commercial driver’s license (CDL).
A driver’s daily log book makes it easy to track your hours so that you can ensure you’re always in compliance. All you have to do is record the time you start and end each shift, as well as any breaks you take during the day. At the end of the week, simply total up the numbers and you’ll know exactly how many hours you’ve worked.
Tracking Mileage
Another benefit of using a driver’s daily log book is that it can help you track your mileage. This is important for a few different reasons. First, tracking your mileage can help you plan your routes more efficiently. By knowing how many miles you’re driving each week, you can map out routes that minimize unnecessary driving and save both time and money.
In addition, tracking your mileage can also help you keep tabs on the condition of your vehicle. By recording both the date and the odometer reading each time you fill up your tank, you can more easily spot any trends in your vehicle’s fuel efficiency. This information can be invaluable when it comes time for preventative maintenance or unexpected repairs.
Finally, tracking your mileage can also help you maximize your deductions come tax time. If you’re self-employed or own your own trucking company, you may be able to deduct a portion of your vehicle expenses come tax time. But in order to do so, you’ll need to have detailed records of your mileage something that’s easy to do with a driver’s daily log book.
Truck driver log book templates record the activities when they travel from one place to another. It is the best way to record the distance they covered at a specific time because most of them get paid according to their driving hours. The logbook template allows you to put details about the truck, driving, hours of service, and essentials about the journey. For that purpose, you should utilize our free truck driver log book excel template to record all the activities and events of the trucker.
These templates are printable and allow the user to make any changes. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration limits that a driver can’t drive for more than 14 consecutive hours of driving; they use the logbook to monitor the driver’s service hours. See below to know everything about the truck driver’s log book.
What is a Truck Driver Log Book?
A logbook is an official document that is used to record the activities of the trucker. The supervisor uses this logbook to get the trucker’s journey events and the authorities to check whether the trucker follows the rules. For a trucker, it isn’t easy to manually write all the details about the journey. The ready-made template makes your work easier; see our collection and download the template you want for your trucker. Authorities need an up-to-date log book to see whether the driver’s activities are according to the set rules or not.
They put some restrictions on driving hours because drivers get tired because of consecutive hours of driving. It is the best way to put away the tired drivers off the roads because driving with a tired body and mind may cause road accidents. You can avoid heavy fines by documenting your activities in the logbook. The logbook should contain the truck details, driver name with contact details, details about the journey, and other essential details. If any accident or breakdown occurs, the driver should include the details of it in their logbook. You can see the driver log sheet example to fill out the daily logbook of the driver.
What Should Appear in Driver Log Book
The salary of drivers depends on the hours of service they offer to meet the supervisor’s deadline. For that purpose, it is necessary to document how many hours drivers drive when they ship from one place to another. The logbook is a valuable document for the driver to get paid and for authority to prove they don’t violate the rules. The driver log book is helpful if it contains all the essential elements. The things that should be included in every driver logbook are as follows:
- The driver’s details like name, address, phone number, and mailing address.
- The name, address, and phone number of the co-driver.
- It should contain the vehicle number, model, and color.
- The information about the business, address of head office, phone number and other contact details.
- Description of the trip
- Starting odometer reading and ending odometer reading
- Must contain the total mileage
- A liter of fuel was spent on this trip with the price the driver paid for it.
- Kilometer has driven in a day with hours
- Details about the driver’s status
- Address from where the journey starts with the address of the destination
- It should include the details about the breakdown and accident if it occurs.
Guidelines to Use Driver Log Book Template
The driver logbook is an official document that must update regularly. The FMCSA checked it and expected an up-to-date logbook; otherwise, drivers would pay a heavy fine. Some drivers don’t know how to fill it, which may cause log book violation penalties and create misunderstandings with the supervisor. Download the free driver log sheet and see the below-mentioned guidelines below to use it effectively.
- Download the template from our collection.
- Enter your name, address, phone number, and mailing address.
- Enter your co-drivers details.
- Write the address where you start your journey and the address of the destination.
- Check your odometer and enter the numeric value display on it. When you reach your destination, enter the odometer reading in the specified field on the logbook.
- Put details about the vehicle you drive in your logbook.
- Write about the reason for making this trip.
- Enter the value of the total mileage.
- Enter the value you paid for fuel and the number of liters whenever you fill up your tank.
- Enter how many hours you drive with sleeping hours. Also, include the status of your duty. On the driver log book, there are four sections to represent the driver’s status:
- On duty (Not driving)
- Off duty
- Driving
- Sleeping
- Put the number of hours that you spend in each section.
- If you are done with any accident or break, write the place where it occurs, details of the damage, and expenses.
Why We Need Driver Log Book
When you are on the road with your vehicle, keeping a driver log book gives you lots of benefits. Check our collection of printable log book templates, which are free of cost and available in the formats you prefer. To explore the importance of logbooks, we share some points that help you understand them easily.
- Ensure the following rules: The driver’s driving hours information ensures that the driver follows all the rules set by authorities. Authorities are not allowed to drive more than 14 hours consecutively. The duty shift information placed by the driver ensures that the driver follows the rest rules defined by the stat.
- Avoid heavy fines: You can pay a heavy amount of fines if the logbook is not up-to-date. A well-designed log template allows you to put your duty shift details to avoid any fines. Never put false entries in your log book; it is a critical violation that may result in a penalty and put you out of service.
- Record of driver’s activity: The driver’s logbook records all the things that happened with the driver moving from one place to another. It contains information before starting the drive, at the end of the drive, while driving, when drivers stop and rest, and all other incidents during traveling.
- Helpful to meet the deadline: It is the best way to track the supervisor’s deadline and complete it timely. Sometimes, the supervisor of the truckers gives a deadline to reach your destination in a specified time; then, this document is helpful to complete.
How to Create the Driver Log Book Template
When you are on the road with a vehicle, whether a bus, van, car, or truck, you need a logbook to record all the things about this journey; you need to put some effort into making it from scratch. It is easy to work with well-designed templates which are available on our site. These templates are available in Excel, PDF, and Word format. If you want to add something more to it or create it from scratch, follow the below-mentioned steps.
Step 1: Open Microsoft Excel. Go to the “File” tab, click “New,” then select “Blank Document” to open a new document.
Step 2: Go to the “Insert” tab from the menu and click on the “header and footer” option to add to your document. Make a header by entering your desired field in it.
Step 3: Enter the column header like driver name, address, phone number, vehicle number, driven hours, duty status, and other essentials that you want to enter in your document.
Step 4: Click on the “File” tab and select the “save as” option to save your document. Put the name of your document and click ok to save it in your desired location.
Log Book Rules for Drivers
The DOT and FMCSA set some rules regarding the driving of truck drivers on the road. Understanding the violation is essential for truckers. They should know how many hours they are allowed to drive daily, weekly, and monthly. Some violations of rules may put the trucker out of service, which means they are allowed to drive anymore. For that purpose, truckers need to know about these rules and regulations. See below to know all about these rules.
- According to the rules set by authorities, a trucker is allowed to drive only 11 hours of their duty. If you violate the rules and put false entries in your log book, that may result in a heavy fine.
- Drivers must rest for 10 hours from duty and are not allowed for any work activity if they want to be on duty for 14 consecutive hours.
- The logbook of the trucker must be up-to-date to avoid any penalties. The state expects an up-to-date logbook to see whether the driver follows the set rules or not.
- Truckers can drive 60/70 hours in 7 or 8 days of work.
- The 30 minutes break rule of FMCSA and DOT states that drivers must take a break of 30 consecutive minutes after 8 hours of driving.
If you want to stay on the road, follow the rules mentioned above to avoid any penalties. Most accidents occur due to the absence of the trucker’s mind and the consecutive hours of driving without any rest. Make sure to put your entries in the logbook daily. Download a ready-made daily log book template for drivers to put data about Hours of service. These hours of service rules help you to put away from any accident
