Who is exempt from the ELD mandate?

Drivers who need a record of duty status on no more than 8 days in any 30-day period; driveaway-towaway operations where the vehicle driven is the shipment; vehicles manufactured before model year 2000; and short-haul drivers within 150 air-miles who return within 14 hours, who need no record of duty status at all.

Does the ELD mandate apply to trucks built before 2000?

No. The regulation lets a carrier use paper logs for a vehicle manufactured before model year 2000, as the vehicle identification number on its registration shows. The hours-of-service limits still apply to the driver.

What does an ELD record?

At each change of duty status: the date, the time, the vehicle's location, engine hours, vehicle miles, and identification for the driver, the vehicle and the motor carrier. During authorised personal use, location is recorded only to about a 10-mile radius.

Can the 30-minute break be taken on duty?

Yes. Under 49 CFR 395.3, the break after 8 cumulative hours of driving is any 30 consecutive minutes not driving — off duty, in the sleeper berth, or on duty but not driving.

Rule

ELD mandate

The ELD mandate is the US rule that requires most commercial truck and bus drivers who must keep records of duty status to record them with an electronic logging device instead of a paper logbook. Set out in 49 CFR Part 395, it applied from December 18, 2017, and its record is what hours-of-service limits are checked against.

Also called ELD rule, electronic logging device mandate, ELD requirementApplies in USUpdated 12 October 2026

Last reviewed against the official text on 12 October 2026. This page explains the rule; it is not legal advice.

Who it covers

The duty sits with the motor carrier: a carrier operating commercial motor vehicles must install an ELD and require each of its drivers to use it to record their duty status. It applies to drivers who are required to keep a record of duty status — the log of when they were driving, on duty but not driving, in the sleeper berth or off duty.

Exemptions

Drivers who need a record of duty status on no more than 8 days in any 30-day period may keep paper logs.
Driveaway-towaway operations, where the vehicle being driven is itself the shipment being delivered.
Vehicles manufactured before model year 2000, as shown by the vehicle identification number on the registration.
Short-haul drivers who stay within 150 air-miles (172.6 statute miles, 278 km) of their normal work reporting location, return there and are released within 14 consecutive hours, need no record of duty status at all — the carrier keeps time records for 6 months instead.

What an ELD records

At each change of duty status the device records the date, the time, the vehicle's location, engine hours, vehicle miles, and who the driver, the vehicle and the carrier are. When a driver uses the truck for authorised personal use, location is recorded only to about a 10-mile (16 km) radius. Alongside the ELD record, the carrier keeps supporting documents for each driver's day — bills of lading, dispatch records, expense receipts, fleet messages and pay records — and need keep no more than eight per 24-hour period.

The hours it enforces

Limit	What it means
11 hours driving	At most 11 hours behind the wheel after 10 consecutive hours off duty
14-hour window	No driving after the 14th hour since coming on duty, whatever the breaks
30-minute break	Needed once 8 cumulative hours of driving pass without a 30-minute interruption
60 / 70 hours	60 hours on duty in 7 days, or 70 in 8 for carriers that operate every day
34-hour restart	34 or more consecutive hours off duty starts a new 7- or 8-day period

Hours of service for property-carrying drivers (49 CFR 395.3)

Worked example: what a dock wait costs

A driver comes on duty at 06:00 after 10 hours off. The 14-hour window closes at 20:00 whatever happens next. Compare a one-hour load with a four-hour wait at the shipper's dock:

	1-hour load	4-hour dock wait
Loading (on duty, not driving)	06:00–07:00	06:00–10:00
Drive	07:00–15:00 (8 h)	10:00–18:00 (8 h)
30-minute break	15:00–15:30	18:00–18:30
Drive	15:30–18:30 (3 h)	18:30–20:00 (1.5 h)
Driving that day	11 h — the driving limit	9.5 h — the 14-hour window closed

The wait cost 1.5 hours of legal driving: at an average 50 mph (80 km/h), about 75 miles (120 km) of road. The ELD records the wait exactly, so the lost hours show up as a missed delivery window or a detention claim rather than as a quietly stretched log.

The mistake people make

Treating the ELD as the rule. The device only records; the limits are the hours-of-service rules, and a carrier with a compliant ELD can still schedule loads that no driver can legally run. A second common error is assuming the 30-minute break must be off duty — the regulation accepts off-duty, sleeper-berth or on-duty-not-driving time, so time spent waiting at a dock can count.

FAQ

ELD mandate: common questions

Who is exempt from the ELD mandate?: Drivers who need a record of duty status on no more than 8 days in any 30-day period; driveaway-towaway operations where the vehicle driven is the shipment; vehicles manufactured before model year 2000; and short-haul drivers within 150 air-miles who return within 14 hours, who need no record of duty status at all.
Does the ELD mandate apply to trucks built before 2000?: No. The regulation lets a carrier use paper logs for a vehicle manufactured before model year 2000, as the vehicle identification number on its registration shows. The hours-of-service limits still apply to the driver.
What does an ELD record?: At each change of duty status: the date, the time, the vehicle's location, engine hours, vehicle miles, and identification for the driver, the vehicle and the motor carrier. During authorised personal use, location is recorded only to about a 10-mile radius.
Can the 30-minute break be taken on duty?: Yes. Under 49 CFR 395.3, the break after 8 cumulative hours of driving is any 30 consecutive minutes not driving — off duty, in the sleeper berth, or on duty but not driving.