The ELD requirements set by the FMCSA in the ELD mandate are complex and in-depth rules on how electronic logging devices must act when keeping a driver's hours-of-service records. There are a lot of opinions about how the best ELDs should keep hours-of-service rules and navigate the gray areas that cause a log of frustration among drivers and carriers.
In a perfect world drivers would have complete control to edit anything that they want on an electronic logging device but unfortunately that is not the case. Here we will go over what can be edited on an electronic logging device and what you can do if you are unable to edit a certain event.
Can a carrier edit my log book for me?
Carriers have the power to suggest edits to a driver's log book. Carriers usually make these edits from their computer in the office. This capability allows the carrier to help the driver to make sure that all of their logs are accurate and correct.
Suggested edits are only entered into the log book after the driver has approved them. The driver always has the final say in what goes in their log books. Drivers can either accept or reject log edits made by a carrier.
Can I edit a log that has already been certified?
If you have already certified a log for a certain day but you find there was an error that you overlooked, you can edit the log to reflect what actually happened that day. The only thing you cannot edit is a driving event that happened while the ELD indicated that the truck was in motion over 5 mph.
Once you edit a log that has already been certified you will have to re-certify the log again and acknowledge that the new log is correct and accurate.
If you are a carrier and edit a certified log, then the driver will have to review the edit and accept the changes. Once the changes have been accepted then the driver will have to re-certify that the new log is correct and accurate.
Make all of your allowed edits with the BIT ELD
Can I edit drive time to personal conveyance?
Sometimes drivers need to move their trucks for personal reasons. The truck may be their only mode of transportation and gets used for errands on their own time. In these cases, the drivers time should indicate personal conveyance before they start driving. This is a logged driving event shown on the off-duty line of the HOS log book and does not affect the driver's work time.
If a driver does not put themselves into personal conveyance before driving over 5 mph, the ELD will place the driver on the drive line and start their 11-hour and 14-hour work clocks. In this situation, drivers cannot shift the driving event to the off-duty line. They must add notes to the driving event to explain why it qualifies for PC. DOT officers should take the notes into account during an inspection.
Can I edit my drive time on an ELD?
The surprising answer to this question is that it depends. The type of driving event matters when it comes to editing drive time.
An ELD can be placed into a driving status in two ways. A driver manually goes in and sets themselves on the drive line or the ELD puts the driver on the drive line when it senses that the vehicle is moving over 5 mph.
For any manual driving events that were made by the driver, this drive time can be edited. It can be moved to any of the other status or removed from the log altogether.
However, if the truck has moved over 5 mph then the driving event goes from a manually added status to an automatically added status and no automatically added status can be edited. You can only leave a note about why the log may be incorrect.
For more information on edits and annotations visit the FMCSA's edit and annotation FAQ page
