TDMST Weekly Round-Up 2025.10.18 is the trucking commentary on news affecting professional truck drivers for the week ending October 18, 2025, written by Vicki Simons.
I welcome your comments, thoughts and feedback on the items of your choice below.
1. Regarding CDLs, DOT medical cards, ELDs, and language:
CDLs
The articles in this section are related to the articles in the Language section below.
The third paragraph from the second article in this section reads:
In addition to calling on Congress to close regulatory loopholes, ATA said it raised concerns about cabotage – the illegal practice of foreign carriers conducting domestic freight movements – which the association said poses an ongoing threat to the viability of U.S. carriers.
Quoting from the fourth article in this section:
The Secure Commercial Driver Licensing Act of 2025 was introduced in the U.S. Senate on October 16, with a companion version to be introduced in the House on October 17.
Lawmakers say that the bill was written in response to a fatal crash that occurred in August 2025 on the Florida Turnpike involving truck driver Harjinder Singh.
Here are the articles:
- ATA calls for legislative reforms around CDL testing, training
- ATA to Congress: Get tough on CDL issuance, training, foreign drivers
- ATA to Congress: Strengthen CDL testing, training
- Bill would forbid administration of CDL tests in any language except English
- Bill would grant CDL authority to Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands
- Bring Back the Real CDL Training — Revisiting the Smith System in a World of Corners Cut
- CDL fraud in New York DMV highlights need for stronger oversight and safeguards of third-party testing
- CDL mayhem? Florida asks SCOTUS to preempt ‘sanctuary laws’
- Florida sues California, Washington for issuing CDLs to ‘illegal alien’ Harjinder Singh
- New York DMV workers indicted for rigging CDL exams
- Sweet justice: Officer sentenced in CDL scheme involving candy
- The six states issuing CDLs ‘not consistent with federal regulations’
DOT medical cards
So, the technology on this still isn’t working correctly. Hmm…
ELDs
How many times will the FMCSA reject the use of certain ELDs after they once previously required only self-certification of the products?
Others within the trucking industry were speaking out against the Electronic Logging Devices “mandate” long before December 4, 2017, but you may read my commentary on the mandate.
In TDMST Weekly Round-Up: 2017.12.09, I quoted Indiana’s Attorney General, Curtis Hill, regarding the self-certification provision regarding ELDs.
I also asked, “In what other industry besides trucking has the government ever mandated the purchase of a ‘self-certification’ product?“
So, I’m truly distressed for every trucker who invested in a “self-certified” ELD that used to be on the approved list, only to later have that certification revoked!
If you are such a trucker, I want to hear from you about how expensive this was for you.
- 5 more ELDs removed from FMCSA’s Registered Devices list
- Feds pull 5 electronic logging devices from approved list
- Five ELDs pulled from FMCSA’s ‘Registered Devices’ list
- FMCSA pulls 5 ELDs from registered device list
- FMCSA removes five ELDs, warns fleets to switch by Dec. 16
- FMCSA Revokes Five ELDs
- FMCSA revokes five ELDs with 60 day deadline to replace with compliant devices
Language
Please see the section above entitled “CDLs”.
- Crackdown on truck driver English proficiency gains steam in Congress
- DOT pulls $40M from California for not enforcing English-proficiency regs
- Federal government to withhold $40M from California for not enforcing trucker English requirements
- Feds to withhold $40.6 million from California over CDL, language issues
- Foreign driver exodus clearing parking lots and boosting rates?
- House bill would codify non-domiciled CDL changes
- New bill targets non-domiciled CDLs
- ‘No shortage of American-made drivers’: Trump DOT’s non-domiciled CDL moves prove it
- Non-domiciled CDL drivers say DOT’s new rule violates their civil rights
- Overlapping bills paving way for trucking’s language mandate
- Speaking English Is No Longer Optional. Over 6,000 Drivers Have Found Out The Hard Way.
- States Targeted by DOT Respond to Non-Domiciled CDL Freeze
- Texas rep’s legislation takes aim at foreign truckers, ends CDL reciprocity
- Trump DOT punishes Newsom on truck driver language rule
- U.S. DOT pulls California funding over English language rule enforcement
- Washington pushes to keep funding after English enforcement, CDL lapses
- Withholding $40?Million for ELP Noncompliance: What Precedent Is This Setting?
2. Regarding inspections and insurance:
Inspections
If you keep yourself and your rig in perpetual readiness for an inspection, you’ll never be caught off-guard.
- Arkansas DOT begins AI truck inspection project
- Blitz yields 140 commercial vehicle inspections, 85 charges, Canadian cops say
- Brakes Lead Out-of-Service Violations in 2025 Roadcheck
- Brakes Top Roadcheck Out of Service Violations
- Brakes, hours of service topped International Roadcheck OOS violations
- Brakes, hours of service topped International Roadcheck OOS violations
- CVSA announces Operation Safe Driver Week results
- CVSA Releases 2025 Brake Safety Week Results – CVSA — Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance
- OTA lays out playbook for tougher trucking enforcement
- Roadcheck results: 10,148 vehicles, 3,342 drivers placed out of service
- Speeding again leads violations found during Safe Driver Week blitz
- Statewide ‘aggressive driving enforcement wave’ starts soon in Pennsylvania
- Troopers from 6 states collaborate on Oct. 10-12 enforcement effort
- Truck inspection: Arkansas turning to AI hoping to streamline
Insurance
3. Regarding border, tariffs, trade, visa, and visa fee:
Border
- Mexico’s manufacturing growth in Bajío corridor boosts cross-border freight opportunities
- New guide: Cross-border ecommerce trends
Tariffs
For a much better and more thorough explanation about the problems with Trump-issued tariffs, please search for the word “tariffs” in Peggy Hall’s Substack archive.
- De minimis light? Retailers explore postal shipping in new tariff age
- Tariffs can’t stop trade — DHL tracker shows globalization proving resilient
- Trump delays imposition of tariffs on heavy-duty trucks until Nov. 1
- US Deficit Dips to $1.78 Trillion as Tariff Revenue Soars
- US to Ease Tariffs on Auto Industry
Trade
Visa
Visa fee
4. Regarding age, California, employment, legal, and politics:
Age
According to an article updated on Sept. 8, 2025, entitled “Auto insurance rates by age in 2025“:
18-year-old drivers on their own policy pay the highest car insurance premiums out of the age groups Bankrate analyzed.
Given this kind of statistic, I wonder how elected officials, insurance executives, and trucking company owners can seriously think that hiring teen truckers is a good idea.
- House bill looks to simplify under-21 trucker apprenticeship program
- Lawmaker looks to relaunch simplified under-21 trucker apprenticeship
California
It looks like California’s stubbornness regarding enforcing the language requirements for CDL issuance is going to hit them in the pocketbook!
- California governor vetoes truck drivers bill
- California hit with $40M federal penalty over lack of ELP enforcement
- California Loses $40 Million in Commercial Vehicle Safety Funding Over English Language Requirements
- California Loses $40 Million in Truck Safety Funds Over English Language Rules
- California Loses $40M in FMCSA Funding Over English Language Rule
- California says English tests at roadside for truck drivers not needed after $40M DOT penalty
Employment
- Canada’s Labor Market Gains Mask Deeper Weakness
- End of trucking company’s 30-year partnership with Mercedes-Benz will affect 200 trucking jobs in Alabama
Legal
- Driver who caused ’27 miles of terror’ earlier this year indicted on multiple charges
- Get the newest Compliance Crunch research
- Moving company still demanding final payment for delivery of shipment left on side of road after crash
- Trailer manufacturer Wabash’s nuclear verdict lawsuit settled
- Truck driver in jail after being chased by police
Politics
- Diesel Justice — How a New Bill Could Save Owner-Ops From Emissions Overreach
- Washington in Shutdown Mode Amid Partisan Impasse
5. Regarding bankruptcy, business, economy, pay, recalls, shut down, and taxes:
Bankruptcy
Articles in this section are related to those in the “Shut down” section.
- 5 Chapter 11 filings in transportation in October’s first 2 weeks
- US Seeks Independent Bankruptcy Probe of First Brands Crash
Business
- Buying Your First Large Truck? Here’s What to Know
- FEMA Freight 101 — How Small Carriers Can Become Trusted Emergency Partners
- Understanding Factoring Contracts and Spotting the Traps
Economy
- Cass reports ‘TL bounce,’ recovery timeline still uncertain
- ECONOMIC TRUCKING TRENDS: U.S. spot market rates and volumes hold fairly steady
- FTR: Net trailer orders up 30% in September
- FTR: Supply constraints will drive trucking recovery
- J.B. Hunt Execs Optimistic Capacity Balloon Is Deflating
- LTL pricing index hits new high in Q3
- Prologis sees warehouse market nearing upcycle
- September Class 8 Truck Sales Fall 25% From Year-Ago Period
- Trucking Faces More Frugal Consumers This Holiday Season
- Werner CEO: Trucking Downturn Will Spark Lasting upturn
Pay
Recalls
- Mack and Autocar Issue Recalls for In-Cab Safety Defects
- Mack announces seat belt recall for just under 16,000 trucks
Shut down
Articles in this section are related to those in the “Bankruptcy” section above.
Taxes
According to the article Let’s Stop With the Carbon Con Already:
Of course, carbon isn’t really a villain, either. It’s the fourth-most abundant element in the universe, and man is known as a “carbon-based life form.”
6. Regarding death, drugs, fatalities, fraud, and theft:
Death
I express my deep sympathy — and offer my condolences — to the family whose loved one died.
- Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper dies assisting disabled tractor-trailer
- Ohio trooper dead, trucker injured in highway crash
Drugs
Never ever haul or take illegal drugs.
Fatalities
I express my deep sympathy — and offer my condolences — to the families of those whose loved ones died.
Can you learn anything from the articles below that would help prevent being involved in a fatal large truck crash?
- 60-year-old driver run over while retrieving spilled cargo
- 8 members of the same family die in I-85 crash involving tractor-trailer
- Arkansas police looking for information on Interstate 40 hit-and-run fatality
- Relatives of Salvadoran family slain in Georgia semi crash left reeling from tragedy
Fraud
Never attempt to deceive, misrepresent something, intentionally pervert the truth, or pretend to be someone else for the purpose of trying to get something valuable.
Theft
Never take something that doesn’t belong to you unless you have permission from the owner.
With as much surveillance equipment as is in place in the 21st century, it’s only a matter of time before the thieves are apprehended.
- Beyond Fieri’s Tequila: The Multi-Billion Dollar Cargo Theft Crisis
- Cargo Theft Costs Trucking, Logistics Firms $18M Daily
- Freight theft: New report’s findings up the ante on prevention
- Fuel theft alert
- New cargo theft study suggests carriers, others create ‘security culture’
7. Regarding containers, ports, and volumes:
Containers
Ports
- Import surge drives new Q2 record for busiest U.S. port
- Port of Charleston TEUs lower on trade reset
- U.S. ships built in China exempt from new port fees
- Union hits Newsom veto of measure to block port automation
Volumes
8. Regarding deer, education, food insecurity, guns, and health:
Deer
Please feel free to review my article:
“Avoiding Deer Collision, Other Animal Collisions in a Big Truck“.
Education
According to the article in this section:
A load claim is a formal complaint made by a shipper, broker, or receiver that the freight didn’t arrive in the condition it was supposed to — damaged, missing, late, spoiled, or otherwise noncompliant. It’s a paper trail that could lead to you eating the cost of a load you thought you’d already delivered.
Food insecurity
Quoting the article in this section:
… The For Good Foundation… collects surplus crops from Canadian farmers that would otherwise be destroyed, packages them using excess capacity from food suppliers, and then sells them at cost, exclusive to food banks across Canada, at a discount to what they’d normally pay through retail channels.
That sounds great to me!
Guns
Never try to take firearms into Canada.
Health
9. Regarding electric vehicles, emissions, fuel, hydrogen, and oil:
Electric vehicles
Before you buy an all-electric Commercial Motor Vehicle, please do your due diligence by asking some questions and getting answers.
- GM Pauses Battery Material Plans in Canada on EV Pullback
- Longhaul electrification feasible along I-10 freight corridor, report finds
- Xiaomi Driver Death Fuels China Push For New EV Door Design
Emissions
- Lawmaker seeks to decriminalize truck equipment tampering
- Senate bill seeks to end prosecution for diesel emissions control ‘deletes’ and ‘tunes’
- Senate bill would ban diesel emissions control devices
Fuel
Hydrogen
Oil
10. Regarding bridge, parking, poll, roads, technology, and tunnel:
Bridge
It appears from the photo embedded in the article that the clearance on the sides of the bridge are 14’0″ high.
If the rig was also 14’0 high, could the trucker have driven across that bridge even if he/she had stayed in the left hand lane?
Was a special permit required?
Was a special route required?
Was this a low clearance crash or a case of carelessness?
Parking
Poll
Roads
Technology
There’s a lot of variety among the articles in this section.
- C.H. Robinson launches Drop Trailer Plus AMS
- CDLLife App: Cats, Climbs and Cold Fronts
- Dash cam shows stolen box truck forced off the road after ‘several’ PIT maneuver attempts by deputy
- Dash cams: Predicting trucking accidents before they happen
- DAT Freight & Analytics Updates DAT One Load Board
- DAT introduces Carrier Management Suite, integrated vetting for DAT One
- Dexory secures $165M to accelerate AI-driven warehouse intelligence
- Fleetworks’ $17 million funding fuels AI dispatcher innovation
- Giant Tiger’s end-to-end sustainability strategy
- How Flexport simplifies complex global trade
- How Triumph’s data reveals owner operator resilience
- Michelin rolls out TreadEye technology across U.S. retread network
- Netscout research highlights AI’s role in DDoS attacks
- New bill targets speed camera profiteers
- Smarter Dispatch, Faster Decisions — AI Isn’t the Future, It’s Right Now
- Smith System’s latest acquisition connects data insights with driver safety
- Tips for Successful AI Adoption for Trucking Companies
- White Paper: AI, Optimization, and the Power of Networked Logistics
- Why AI Could Be the Cure for Trucking’s Tech Fatigue
Tunnel
This sounds like good news.
11. Regarding truck stops, truckers, trucking, trucks, and women:
Truck stops
- Pilot delivers major upgrades across the U.S. and Canada
- Pilot makes ‘curb-to-counter renovations’ to 14 locations
- Sapp Bros. oepns new travel center in Utah; has 60 truck parking spots
- Sapp Bros. opens new truck stop in southern Utah
- Sapp Bros. opens new Utah travel center featuring 60 truck parking spaces
Truckers
Trucking
- Is Trucking Capacity Tighter Than It Looks?
- Is Trucking Capacity Tighter Than It Looks?
- New reports cite uptick in U.S. trucking activity
Trucks
Women
12. Regarding awards:
Awards
Congratulations to all professional truck drivers who received awards as described in these articles!
- Florida trucker wins $10,000 Driver Appreciation Week Sweepstakes
- Nominations open for TCA Drivers of the Year; winners get $20,000
- Trucking Industry Celebrates Drivers During National Truck Driver Appreciation Week
I wish you — and all professional truck drivers — safe travels and lots of money saving opportunities on the road.
Return from TDMST Weekly Round-Up: 2025.10.18 to our TDMST Weekly Round-Up Trucking Commentary or our Truck Drivers Money Saving Tips home page.
