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TDMST Weekly Round-Up 2026.09.05

TDMST Weekly Round-Up 2026.09.05 is the trucking commentary on news affecting professional truck drivers for the week ending September 5, 2026, written by Vicki Simons.

I welcome your comments, thoughts and feedback on the items of your choice below.

TDMST Weekly Round-Up

Even though I have a “Fuel” section below, I am putting this September 4, 2026, article at the top of my commentary this week:

DAT TruckersEdge - Most Loads. Best Rates. Serving Owner-Operators Since 1978. 10% off your first 12 months. New customers only.

The Diesel Time Bomb Is Exploding … And We Will Endure YEARS of Economic Hardship as a Result

The image at the bottom of the article is:

The Diesel Time Bomb Explodes: The Economy Pays the Price. Courtesy of NaturalNews.com.

Not being satisfied with what I learned, I went digging for more info:

Do you agree or disagree?

Please share your feedback through the form below.

Thanks.

1. Regarding Language and Training:

Language

I am grouping in this section articles — in no particular order — about situations involving:

  • illegal aliens in trucking in the United States;
  • English Language Proficiency (ELP); and
  • non-domiciled Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) holders.

I am glad that this topic is getting the attention it deserves.

This is part of “General qualifications of drivers [who drive a commercial motor vehicle]” 49 C.F.R. 391.11(b)(2):

Can read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, to respond to official inquiries, and to make entries on reports and records;

This needs to be the standard across the U.S. trucking industry.

Now how serious is this situation?

I note the title of this August 31, 2026, article:

ELP violations rank fourth among OOS orders during CVSA event.

Wow!

Training

In addition to unqualified truckers being removed from the trucks they’ve been driving, this section of articles deals with the training schools through which unqualified people have somehow obtained their CDLs.

2. Regarding Infrastructure, Military, Politics, and Politics – Infrastructure:

Infrastructure

In this section, I am grouping articles about roads and bridges.

Military

Politics

Politics – Infrastructure

3. Regarding Border, Brokers, Business, Canada, Capacity, Industry, and Tender Rejections:

Border

Brokers

Business

Canada

There are also sections about tariffs and trade in this trucking commentary.

Capacity

Industry

Tender Rejections

4. Regarding Alcohol, Crashes, Death, Drugs, Fatalities, Fraud, Injury, Staged, Theft, and Violence:

Alcohol

Never ever consume alcohol — or use an alcohol-containing product (such as mouthwash) — before beginning to drive a commercial motor vehicle!

Crashes

Please look through these articles to see if there is anything you can learn to help you prevent being involved in a similar crash.

Death

I express my deep sympathy — and offer my condolences — to the family of the loved one who died as reported in this article.

Drugs

Never ever haul or take illegal drugs.

Fatalities

According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, as it concerns a “highway”:

Fatality means any injury which results in the death of a person at the time of the motor vehicle accident or within 30 days of the accident.

I express my deep sympathy — and offer my condolences — to the families of those whose loved ones died.

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.

Injury

May the Lord heal this trucker!

Staged

According to one source:

A “staged” truck crash is an intentional, premeditated collision orchestrated by fraudsters to fraudulently claim insurance money, often targeting commercial vehicles.

Criminals maneuver a car to force a truck into an accident, typically using tactics like the “swoop and squat” (cutting off and braking) or “sideswipe” to blame the truck driver.

Be on your guard regarding these kinds of maneuvers.

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.

I note that this week’s listing of articles involving theft within the trucking industry seems to be good-sized!

Violence

It is never right to perpetrate violence upon someone in an unprovoked manner.

All perpetrators of violence must be dealt with in a just legal manner.

5. Regarding Inspections, Maintenance, and Violations:

Inspections

If you keep yourself and your rig in perpetual readiness for an inspection, you’ll never be caught off-guard.

Maintenance

For reference purposes, please see:

Big Truck Preventive Maintenance Reduces Breakdowns, Added Cost.

Violations

A lot of violations are found during truck inspections while others are spotted on the road.

Make it your aim as a trucker to do everything in compliance with the law and regulations — even if your trucking company is trying to get you to compromise.

For your convenience, please review these posts:

Now for the news articles on this topic:

6. Regarding Autonomous Vehicles, Electric Vehicles, Fuel, Fuel Economy, Fuel Efficiency, Iran, and Oil:

Autonomous Vehicles

I most definitely oppose the operation of autonomous, driverless, or self-driving commercial motor vehicles on the same roads as the motoring public — but I share articles on this topic with my readers to help us stay current on the topic.

Electric Vehicles

It could be that with the price of fuel being so high right now, that truckers and trucking companies are looking at alternatives.

Before you buy an all-electric Commercial Motor Vehicle, please do your due diligence by asking some questions and getting answers.

Fuel

So that you can track the price of fuel:

In an effort to save as much fuel as possible, here are a few of the articles on this site dealing with aerodynamics:

Now this week’s articles on this topic:

Fuel Economy

For reference purposes, please see:

Maximize Truck Fuel Economy for Your Commercial Motor Vehicle.

Fuel Efficiency

Just in case anyone wonders:

Fuel economy is a specific measurement of how much distance a vehicle can travel per unit of fuel consumed (such as miles per gallon or MPG).

Fuel efficiency is a broader concept describing how effectively an engine converts the chemical energy in fuel into mechanical energy and movement.

That being said, I think that in this particular case, the title says one thing, but the downloadable resource may refer to the other.

Iran

Oil

7. Regarding Bypass, Exemption, Legal, Parking, and Weigh Station:

Bypass

According to one overview:

Weigh station bypass systems save commercial trucks an average of 7 minutes and $10.65 in operational costs (including roughly half a gallon of fuel) per individual bypass.

Consider how many weigh stations one may enter in a given week, month, or year, and the costs in terms of time and money can add up!

Exemption

The opening paragraph of the article in this section says:

An exemption that has largely been opposed by truck safety groups and individual truckers was again approved by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Legal

Parking

Weigh Station

8. Regarding Economy, Inflation, Money, Rates, Recovery, Recruitment, Tariffs, Trade, and UCR Fees:

Economy

Inflation

One source (pages 17 and 18) says that inflation is:

  • both “an increase in the amount of currency, resulting in rising prices”;
  • and “theft.”

Take a look at the M1 money supply — and what happened in early 2020 — and you’ll realize immediately what has happened to prices in the USA over the last 6+ years.

Although the dates may be shifting over time, according to FiscalData.Treasury.gov, the U.S. debt:
– exceeded $36 Trillion on November 21, 2024;
– exceeded $37 Trillion on August 11, 2025;
– exceeded $38 Trillion on October 21, 2025;
– exceeded $39 Trillion on May 18, 2026; and
– exceeded $40 Trillion on August 18, 2026.

Obviously, this is unsustainable and some people have indicated that the collapse of the U.S. dollar is imminent.

If you have not already done so, please make preparations regarding your financial future.

Money

Rates

Recovery

I am glad whenever I read of stolen goods having been recovered!

Recruitment

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.

There’s also a short video on Telegram with this description:

Peter Schiff on Trump’s punitive tariffs against U.S. allies and why all tariffs are paid by the American people, not foreign manufacturers

Now for the articles in this section…

Trade

Regarding the first article in this section, I had no idea what “AD/CVD” meant, so I went digging.

According to one overview:

Anti-dumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD) are special penalty tariffs that a government places on imported goods to offset unfair foreign trade practices and protect local industries

Regarding Anti-Dumping (AD), I see this definition:

“Dumping occurs when a foreign company sells a product in another country at a price below its normal fair market value.”

Regarding Countervailing Duty (CVD), I see this definition:

“Subsidies happen when a foreign government provides financial assistance, grants, or tax breaks to its local manufacturers.”

This kind of makes me wonder why President Trump has desired for less expensive foreign “beef” to come into this country to undercut the price of domestically grown beef.

Hmm…

UCR Fees

According to one overview:

A UCR (Unified Carrier Registration) fee is an annual state-collected fee required for commercial motor vehicle operators, brokers, and freight forwarders engaged in interstate or international commerce.

As of the time that I’m writing this trucking commentary, one overview states:

There is no active legislation successfully blocking the Unified Carrier Registration (UCR) fee, as the program and fee requirements were established and mandated directly by Congress under 49 U.S.C. 14504a.

9. Regarding Dash Trash, ELDs, HOS, Last Mile, Motus, Operations, and Regulations:

Dash Trash

For reference purposes, please see this post on this site:

Dash Trash: What a Trashy Looking Truck Says and Does.

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.

HOS

The first article in this section reads, in part:

The US Department of Transportation recently shut down 110 trucking schools as a part of a plan to reduce fraud in the trucking industry. Now, Meiborg Companies owner and CEO Zach Meiborg says that the trucking schools are just a symptom of a greater problem related to antiquated hours of service rules.

“When they say they shut down 100 CDL mill schools, great, but you’re only addressing the problem after the problem’s already occurred,” he said to The Center Square. “The problem is that there’s a massive incentive to cheat.”

Do you agree or disagree?

Please comment through the form below.

Last Mile

Motus

I was very skeptical of this new government program from the beginning.

Now someone real has experienced something real.

Operations

In my humble opinion, I think that both of these situations were totally preventable.

Regulations

10. Regarding Ports, Safety, and Supply Chain:

Ports

Safety

Supply Chain

11. Regarding Surveillance and Technology:

Surveillance

This situation regarding monitoring and surveillance is going to escalate until one or more legal decisions are made.

As a reminder, this is The Fourth Amendment to The Constitution of the United States:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Thoughts?

Technology

12. Regarding Awards, Awards – Road Warrior, and NTDAW:

Awards

Awards – Road Warrior

NTDAW

Please take advantage of all incentives, freebies, and giveaways that will help you 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: 2026.09.05 to our TDMST Weekly Round-Up Trucking Commentary or our Truck Drivers Money Saving Tips home page.



Factor with more freedom. Non-recourse + no annual contracts. DAT Outgo.
Rate Match Guarantee. We'll meet or beat your current rate. DAT Outgo.
Factoring that pays faster. Super fast funding speeds. DAT Outgo.
Factor smarter, faster, and save. Keep more of what you earn. DAT Outgo.
Truckers, for all that you do all year long... thanks!