When to sign logbook???

99.9% of the time its the carrier that catches a false log. Then they contact the driver to correct it and resubmit it with a CL notation beside the date. State enforcement officers primarily are looking for HOS violations, Expired or missing permits and defective or out of adjustment equipment. If you have a log that is so screwed up that an officer would cite you for a false log you got a lot of other problems. I do agree that in that narrow situation an unsigned log might keep you from getting a false log ticket, but like I said there is so many other things the officer could cite you with I doubt this would do you any good.

 

A citation doesn't have to be paid until you're found guilty of it. By willfully paying it, you're pleading guilty.

If you choose to fight the ticket, your signature on that log at the time that the ticket was given will be used as testimony by you against yourself.

You're going to be ticketed, we're not arguing that, by a signed log is ADMITTING that you did what you were ticketed for. If the log isn't signed, you can try to defend yourself IN COURT (not to the cop, because that again will be used as admitting to it) by saying it was a mistake and it would have been corrected when you reviewed your log. If it's signed, you can't, you admitted to it.

Signing the log beforehand, in the case of an error, is like walking up to a cop and handing him a notorized letter saying that you were driving 70 in a 50.

Every judge in the world is going to take that signed log as admitting to the ticket

 

Can you give an example of a mistake that you made while doing your log, while you were logging as you did it?
Because, if you take the time to log it as you do it - there will be no mistakes.

When you are beginning your pre-trip you pen the line.
When you are about to drive, you use the pen and move to the drive line.
As you stop you use that pen again and move it.

Logging as you do it.
It is very simple.
If you do that it won't matter when you sign the log, because the log will always be correct.

But if you wait to make those log entries, maybe hoping that you can cheat the time by a few minutes, you may end up with a violation - whether or not it is signed.


Mistakes on a log are always the drivers fault, usually because they don't care or are trying to cheat.
Well, maybe sometimes because they are just dumb.

 

The DOT auditer man told me logs are to be signed at end of current log day. If you know you're done for day at 10am and off duty remainder of day then sign. He told me you can actually get cited if sign before final off duty/end of day happens. That was as of 1-19-2015

 

So please show me the reg that can be cited if you sign the log at the beginning of the day.

 

I just got written up for a violation for my log page being signed after I was 4 hours into my day and had already logged a pretrip, unload, and load. Log pages state "I certify these entries are true and correct", which they were. NOWHERE does it say that the day has to be completed. Any advice here because I don't need more fresh CSA points

 

So they wrote you up because you didn't sign log at the end of your shift?Or because you didn't sign it at the beginning of your shift?I've always signed at the end of the day because there's alot of line 4 duties that are done during your 14 hrs.Doesn't make since to sign before and say you unload two hrs later.

 

The guidance to part 395.8 clearly states that a driver should sign the log immediately after all required entries have been made, meaning at the end of the day not when the day starts or mid day. It also clearly states that if you intend to remain off duty for the rest of the day you can sign the log early, after you have logged off duty.
Question 24: When must a driver complete the signature/certification of the driver’s record of duty status?

Guidance: In general, the driver must sign the record of duty status immediately after all required entries have been made for the 24-hour period. However, if the driver is driving at the end of the 24-hour period,he/she mus tsign during the next stop. A driver may also sign the record of duty status upon going off duty if he/she expects to remain off duty until the end of the 24-hour period.

 

I believe they could cite you based upon the interpretation found in guidance question 24 to part 395.8 but it would be iffy at best.
Question 24: When must a driver complete the signature/certification of the driver’s record of duty status?

Guidance: In general, the driver must sign the record of duty status immediately after all required entries have been made for the 24-hour period. However, if the driver is driving at the end of the 24-hour period,he/she must sign during the next stop. A driver may also sign the record of duty status upon going off duty if he/she expects to remain off duty until the end of the 24-hour period.

 

It is possible to make an honest mistake, I have accidentally drawn my line an hour off of the correct time, forgetting my clock changes with the location for time zones, and have done the same just by accident. Luckily, I have caught these and fixed them before presenting them to law enforcement or filing them. Point is, honest mistakes do happen, over the last 24 years I have even managed to put down the wrong town name doing p&d work, after a while you forget where you are when you are making 7 or 10 stops in a 3 hour window. I agree with your point, if you are logging it as you are doing it you are less likely to make a mistake, but they can still happen.