§395.8(e) prohibits any person from preparing or causing to be prepared a false record of duty status. Common findings include falsified driving-time entries, unassigned-driving events ignored, and ELD edits that misrepresent on-duty status. ELD logs leave a forensic trail; "auto-edits" and "yard moves" used to mask driving time get found.
Severity weight + audit consequences
Severity weight 7 — high for the HOS Compliance BASIC. More damaging at audit: a pattern of false logs is §390.35 falsification territory, and false or missing records across 51% or more of examined logs triggers the §385.321(b) automatic failure for §395.8(a).
Driver consequences
A first conviction for §395.8(e) falsification is a §383.51(b)(2) "serious traffic violation" — 60-day CDL disqualification on second conviction within 3 years.
How to prevent it
- Review unassigned-driving events monthly. Reassign or document them.
- Audit ELD edit history quarterly. Unusual patterns (drivers who never go on-duty before driving, edits that bring duty cycles under §395.3 limits) are the tell.
- Don't dispatch loads that mathematically require an HOS violation.
- Train drivers that "yard move" and "personal conveyance" are narrowly defined and recorded — abuse is a §395.8(e) issue.
How Roadworthy HQ helps
Roadworthy HQ has no hours-of-service screen. It does not import ELD data, store records of duty status or supporting documents, or detect HOS violations. On the ELD side it keeps a per-vehicle registry of the device (provider, model, serial, FMCSA registration ID) and checks it daily against FMCSA's revoked-device list, with warnings ahead of the replacement deadline. A driver can be marked short-haul on their profile so the audit-readiness check stops expecting logs from them.