The federal motor carrier safety agency has turned down a request from a trucker advocacy group seeking permission for drivers to keep handwritten duty-hour records rather than rely on electronic recorders. After reviewing the petition and feedback from the public, officials concluded that the proposed relief could not deliver safety results at least on par with those achieved under the existing mandate.
Key Points
- The Federation of Professional Truckers asked for a waiver so drivers could choose paper-based tracking of their duty status over an electronic device.
- The agency examined the petition alongside comments submitted by the public before reaching a decision.
- Regulators found that allowing optional manual logs would not match the safety performance of the current electronic recording rules.
- Because the request was denied, the electronic recording mandate stays in force without the opt-out the group sought.
Why It Matters
The ruling confirms that the agency does not consider handwritten logs to be as safe as electronic ones, so the electronic device mandate continues to apply to affected drivers.