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.
Factor with more freedom. Non-recourse + no annual contracts. DAT Outgo.

TDMST Weekly Round-Up 2026.05.02

TDMST Weekly Round-Up 2026.05.02 is the trucking commentary on news affecting professional truck drivers for the week ending May 2, 2026, written by Vicki Simons.

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

TDMST Weekly Round-Up

1. Regarding BP, Fuel, Iran, and Oil:

Based on my limited reading, it seems to me that people around the world are reeling from the illegal, immoral, and unconstitutional war of aggression against Iran that was started by U.S. President Donald J. Trump.

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

Supply chains have been disrupted and the price of fuel, oil, other products, and various services have risen sharply, as shown in the articles in this section.

If this situation bothers you, please contact your federal elected officials.

BP

Does it bother you that BP’s profit [has more than doubled] in 1Q as [the] Iran war continues and US gas prices rise?

In my opinion, there’s a line between a company making a reasonable profit and profiting intensely off the backs of consumers when prices are high.

I’m not calling this price gouging, because that term means “the practice of increasing prices for essential goods, services, or commodities to an unfairly high level, usually during a declared state of emergency, supply shortage, or natural disaster.”

None of those situations is in place yet, although I have read:

Oil wells are facing PERMANENT damage for each day that goes by as the strait stays closed and this foolish war continues. Even after the war is over and the strait is opened, the global oil supply won’t recover for YEARS to come… with devastating consequences for human civilization.

But if I was an owner-operator who had a choice of fueling locations, I would steer away from those whose companies seem to increase profits this way.

Fuel

So that you can track the price of fuel:

Now for some of the most recent articles on this topic:

Iran

Oil

In case you’re wondering about the price of oil, this resource lists prices of a number of commodities, including “Crude Oil WTI (USD/Bbl)”, the definitions being:

  • USD: United States Dollar (currency);
  • Bbl: Barrel (unit of volume), with one “bbl” being 42 US gallons (approximately 159 liters or 35 imperial gallons); and
  • WTI (West Texas Intermediate): the US benchmark for oil (as opposed to “Brent Crude”, which is the international benchmark).

Now for the articles in this section:

2. Regarding Clearinghouse, Language, Legal, Registration, and Regulations:

Clearinghouse

The first article in this section reveals:

Have you received a notice from the U.S. DOT to submit drug and alcohol testing results?

If you are one of the carriers selected to report their 2025 drug and alcohol testing results, there are two important things you should know. First, the notice is legitimate and time-sensitive.

… The second thing carriers need to know about submitting results to the agency’s Drug and Alcohol Testing Management Information System is that you will have to do so on your own, even if you are a member of a drug and alcohol consortium.

The article also reveals:

All carriers selected for the annual survey are required to participate and may face significant penalties for failing to do so. The current fines can range from $1,584 per day to $15,846 in total for failing to submit results.

So this is serious.

Language

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;

Regarding some of the articles in this section (below), I am chuckling over the “fight” between the state of New York and “the feds” over the challenge regarding “non-domiciled CDL” actions, because this is a classic Tenth Amendment struggle.

The Constitution of the United States never mentions transportation, meaning that:

  • the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) is an unconstitutional department of the federal government; and
  • transportation is a states’ rights issue.

Furthermore, in my opinion:

  • there should never have been any non-domiciled CDLs issued to people who could not proficiently read, write, and speak English (the language used for road signs in the USA); and
  • non-English reading truckers from New York who travel out-of-state, could cause crashes, injuries, and/or fatalities in those other states, meaning that this is not strictly an in-state matter.

The only solution that I can think of that is both constitutional and abiding by states’ rights includes all of these points:

  • the states should not receive a single cent of money from the federal government for transportation;
  • states need to issue their own requirements and restrictions regarding whom they will and will not allow to travel on their roads; and
  • any a trucker who cannot proficiently read, write, and speak English (“non-English” trucker) runs the risk of being stopped at the state line and turned back.

When enough “non-English” truckers are stopped in this manner, the issuing state will realize that they need to stop doing this.

Here are at least some of this week’s articles on this topic:

Legal

Registration

According to the first article in this section:

The goal of Motus is to “streamline processes, enhance fraud prevention and provide a more intuitive, user-friendly experience for supporting companies, motor carriers, brokers and other registrants.”

FMCSA has created a resource hub to prepare stakeholders for the launch of Motus. The hub includes a list of Frequently Asked Questions and a fact sheet.

According to the fact sheet:

Motus is a modern, secure platform that allows businesses to easily register with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), manage registrations, and control authorized access all in one place.

OK, I have to express my skepticism over this because:

  • As I wrote above, The Constitution of the United States does not mention transportation, meaning that this is a states’ rights issue; and
  • The FMCSA’s track record is abysmal regarding reducing crashes and fatalities as a result of modifying the Hours of Service regulations over and over again.

Still, my opinion is of little concern when it comes to abiding by this “new registration system”.

Will Motus work? Only time will tell…

The deadline for this comes up on May 14, so please prepare.

Regulations

3. Regarding Border, Chameleon Carriers, Insurance, and Recalls:

Border

Chameleon Carriers

For background on chameleon carriers, please read:

The Anatomy of a Chameleon Carrier Empire. How They Build It.

Insurance

Please regularly review your truck insurance to see if it is just right to meet your needs without being too expensive.

Recalls

If your tractor or trailer is under a recall, please have the work attended to as soon as possible.

4. Regarding Economy, Inflation, NACFE, Rates, Tariffs, Tolls, and UCR Fee:

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 5+ years.

According to FiscalData.Treasury.gov, the U.S. debt:
– exceeded $37 Trillion on August 11, 2025;
– exceeded $38 Trillion on October 23, 2025; and
– exceeded $39 Trillion on March 27, 2026 (as of one time when I saw it).

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.

NACFE

“TCO” stands for “total cost of ownership”.

Rates

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 some of the articles on this topic…

Tolls

Failure to pay a toll is a type of theft. Pay what you owe!

UCR Fee

The article in this section opens with this statement:

Small-business truckers have voiced concerns about a proposed 20% increase in UCR fees for 2027.

Yikes!

5. Regarding Brokers, Canada, Politics, and Ports:

Brokers

Canada

Politics

Ports

6. Regarding Autonomous Vehicles, Electric Vehicles, Emissions, Exemption, Fuel Economy, Fuel Efficiency, and Hydrogen:

Autonomous Vehicles

I totally 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

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

Emissions

Exemption

I went looking for specific information on LandLine’s website for Intellistop, but did not find it.

This is total speculation on my part, but I suspect that the reason for wanting to have an exemption for a “flashing brake light system” is in preparation for a broader roll-out of autonomous trucks, where there is no human to set out hazard triangles behind the trailer (in case of a breakdown on the side of the road).

Now, a May 17, 2024, article states:

The Intellistop module is designed to pulse the required rear clearance, identification and brake lamps from a lower-level lighting intensity to a higher-level lighting intensity four times in two seconds when the brakes are applied and then return the lights to a steady-burning state while the brakes remain engaged.

So, the matter of “[returning] the lights to a steady-burning state while the brakes remain engaged” will obviously need to be adjusted for breakdowns, but I’m sure that clever engineers will be able to figure that out.

Just saying. Stay tuned.

Fuel Economy

Quoting the article in this section:

“Using the Motive system, which I use habitually to keep track of my fuel purchases, I’ve been averaging 7.9-8.8 miles per gallon,” he said, between 16% to near 20% better than the Cascadia.

Woohoo!

Fuel Efficiency

Hydrogen

At first, the article in this section confused me because I thought that fuel cells and hydrogen worked independently of each other.

However, I have learned from this resource that:

A fuel cell truck is an electric truck (FCEV) that generates electricity from fuel cells. These are powered by hydrogen, which is fueled and stored in tanks on the truck. In a fuel cell, hydrogen and oxygen are combined through an electrochemical reaction to generate electricity, heat and water.

This is in contrast to a battery electric truck (BEV), which gets its energy from batteries that are charged via an external electricity source.

I am very interested in learning:

  • how long fuel cells last (the longevity in years);
  • how much fuel cells cost;
  • if fuel cells are dependent on hard-to-source minerals;
  • what is involved in recycling or disposing of “spent” fuel cells; and
  • how long it will take for technology to be developed for trucks to carry and operate their own mini-hydrogen-generating stations, which would free them up from having to stop for hydrogen (sort of like how cell phones have replaced a lot of land line phones).

The article…

7. Regarding Crashes, Deaths, Drugs, Fatalities, Fraud, Injury, Missing, Smuggling, Theft, and Violence:

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.

Deaths

I express my deep sympathy — and offer my condolences — to the families of those whose loved ones died as reported in these articles.

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.

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 these people!

Missing

Please help find missing people!

Smuggling

Never ever transport people made in the image of God as if they were cattle or cargo — no matter how large of an incentive you’ve been offered.

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.

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.

8. Regarding Bottlenecks, Bridges, Roads, and Weather:

Bottlenecks

Do the powers-that-be truly not know where congestion bottlenecks are occurring?

Bridges

A headline in the article in this section reads:

Funding for the Key Bridge rebuild has sparked a back-and-forth between state and federal agencies.

Well, I speculate that if the company — whose ship caused the Key Bridge to collapse over two years ago — had been held financially responsible, then perhaps the bridge could have been rebuilt by now!

Roads

This sounds good, but I am skeptical.

Weather

9. Regarding Inspections, Maintenance, Operations, Parking, and Safety:

Inspections

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

Maintenance

Operations

Parking

Safety

10. Regarding Supply Chain, Technology, and Towing:

Supply Chain

Technology

Towing

Predatory towing is a violation of the commandment to “love your neighbor” as you love yourself.

11. Regarding Speeding, Training, and Weigh-In-Motion:

Speeding

Training

Weigh-In-Motion

12. Regarding Awards:

Awards

Congratulations to every trucker who has received an award or recognition for his/her efforts!

I wish you — and all professional truck drivers — safe travels and lots of money saving opportunities on the road.

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