E-logs And Paper Logs

If your truck has e-logs, does the driver also have to fill out paper logs or does the elogs take care of all of it. Someone told me that if you were stopped and asked to see your logs, you'd have to have paper logs even if you have elogs. Is this correct?

Thanx

If you have elogs (qualcomm or that other one) then you don't have to fill out paper logs. BUT you do have to carry empty paper logs in case your elog thing fails. This is what I was taught in school and from what I have experienced while on the road.

Yes you have to have paper logs on the truck in case the Elogs fail.

Ok, my turn to ask a question!

Guyjax, or anyone currently using e-logs:

By law you have to keep logs for the past 8 days on the truck with you. I know you carry paper logs in case the elog system fails. I know you'll begin logging on paper if the elog system fails, but what do you do about having logs for the past 8 days? If the system is down there's no way to access the past 8 days over the Qualcomm , right? What would be the plan?

Hmmmm, I never thought of that. The laws says you have to have 8 days of logs on the truck. E-log is acceptable or paper logs are acceptable. However, what Brett says makes me wonder. If the E-log failed and you did not fill in the paper logs for the past 8 days, how do you legally drive? Your previous 8 days are in the E-log and you have no way to obtain them while the system is down. Is this another one of those catch 22 laws?

Brett, are you suggesting that we should fill out a back-up paper log for just in case?

I am going to ask this question at school. Going to be fun to see how the instructor answers this question.

The company can fax or email a copy of your elogs , correct?

What happens if an AOBRD stops working?

If an AOBRD fails, the driver must:

~Note the failure of the device;

~Reconstruct his/her logs for the current day and the previous 7 days, less any days for which the driver has records; and

~Continue to prepare a handwritten record of all subsequent duty status until the device is working again.

J.J. Keller

Brett, are you suggesting that we should fill out a back-up paper log for just in case?

Actually I'm genuinely asking the question myself because I was never on e-logs so I'm not sure how people handle this. I have heard people say that they keep a duplicate copy of paper logs for this reason.

Another thing you can do is get one of the 10 million logbook apps for your phone, tablet, or desktop and duplicate your elogs in there. That way if the elog system goes down you have your own copy.

The company can fax or email a copy of your elogs, correct?

I'm sure they can, assuming they have access to it in their system and they can get it to you in a timely manner. If it's just your truck's elog system that goes down then I would expect the company can send you a copies without too much trouble. But if the entire system goes down and they either can't access your logs or get them to you anytime soon then there needs to be a plan B.

I've gone through this very scenario twice now. If your qualcomm is completely down you call dispatch and give them the fax number of the next truck stop you are going to shut down at (this information is readily available to you if you have one of those truck stop guides on the truck with you, and in my opinion every driver should have one of these, I use it many times each day) and they will fax you the last eight days of your logs. You keep paper logs while it's down and of course turn in your logs with your trip packs or transflos.

I would not recommend that you ever keep both paper and electronic logs at the same time, because if you get stopped by the right D.O.T. officer you will have a ticket on your hands for having two sets of logs going in your truck.

~Reconstruct his/her logs for the current day and the previous 7 days, less any days for which the driver has records

Which of course nobody could do from memory alone so you'd have to have some other way of obtaining the previous 7 days logs.