Printouts from a popular free driver's log program can be used in lieu of handwritten logs, according to a recent "regulatory guidance" from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Fritz "Nick" Bjorklund, a software developer/trucker who created the software, has been waging a 10-month battle to get the federal government to consider the legality of his software. Some inspectors, he said, "were interpreting the 'letter of the law' rather than the 'spirit of the law," when it came to the regulations on driver's logs. FMCSR section 395.8, paragraph (f)(2), reads, "All entries relating to driver's duty status must be legible and in the driver's own handwriting."
Bjorklund initially proposed that the FMCSA initiate a pilot program to study the use of the Driver's Daily Log printed logs as legitimate driver's duty status records. While the agency rejected the pilot program proposal, in a Jan. 4 letter to Bjorklund, FMCSA officials said, "we have determined that the current regulations do not bar motor carriers from relying on computer-assisted logs in lieu of handwritten logs."
In its "regulatory guidance," FMCSA says, "A driver may use a computer to generate the graph grid and entries for the record of duty status or log book, provided the computer-generated output includes the minimum information required by Part 395.8 and is formatted in accordance with the rules."
However, the guidance says the driver must:

• be capable of printing the record of duty status for the current 24-hour period at the request of an enforcement officer;

• print the record of duty status at the end of each 24-hour period, and sign it in his or her handwriting; and

• keep a copy of printed and signed records for the previous seven days and make it available at the request of an enforcement officer.

"If you don't have a printer in the truck," Bjorklund says, "carry a paper log book to 'transcribe' to from the DDL and sign on demand."
The easy-to-use program, which has been available for more than four years, works in the Windows 95/98 or NT 2000 operating systems. Its what-you-see-is-what-you-get screen looks like a printed log page but contains much more information -- continual updates of available hours under 60-hour and 70-hour scenarios, for example. The feature-rich program can do much more.
For more information and to download the free program, visit www.driversdailylog.com.