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TDMST Weekly Round-Up 2026.05.16

TDMST Weekly Round-Up 2026.05.16 is the trucking commentary on news affecting professional truck drivers for the week ending May 16, 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 Brokers, Cabotage, and Motus:

Brokers

This section covers, among other things, information related to what is covered in this article entitled US Supreme Court rules brokers can be held liable in accidents, one quote being:

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

The U.S. Supreme Court on May 14 ruled that freight brokers can be held liable for negligence under state laws for highway accidents.

Do you consider this to be a positive or negative?

Please comment through the form below.

Cabotage

According to the May 14, 2026, article entitled Survey seeks trucker input on how much unauthorized cabotage is really taking place in the U.S.:

On May 14, 2026, the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) unveiled a new survey delving into scope and location of illegal cabotage taking place in the U.S.

Cabotage laws prevent Mexican and Canadian B-1 visa-holding truck drivers from delivering freight between two points that are both located inside the U.S.

What have you personally witnessed on the road?

Please comment through the form below.

Motus

Now that Motus is supposed to be “live,” what are your thoughts?

Please comment through the form below.

2. Regarding Fuel, Iran, and Oil:

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:

Iran

Oil

3. Regarding Health, Injury, Inspections, Language, and Parking:

Health

Quoting from this post on Telegram:

Did you Know ?

Development of Hantavirus infection was a known adverse event arising from the Pfizer COVID-19 vaxxines.

Just another Coincidence?

Given the huge “con” surrounding the C0V!D plandemic, I hope that people will not be “fooled” again!

However, one author wrote: “The Hantavirus PSYOP: Don’t Be Fooled Again — It’s Pure Theater for the Weak-Minded (full article)”

The article from a trucking publication on this:

Injury

May the Lord heal this woman!

Inspections

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

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;

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

Parking

4. Regarding Amazon, Business, Clearinghouse, Legal, and Routing:

Amazon

OK, those of you who are old enough may remember that Domino’s Pizza used to advertise delivery of their food in “30 minutes or less.”

According to one AI overview:

Domino’s officially canceled its “30 minutes or less” guarantee in 1993 due to multiple high-profile, fatal car crashes caused by delivery drivers rushing to beat the timer. The crushing pressure to meet the deadline led to massive liability lawsuits, including one notable $79 million jury verdict.

I wondered how the “Amazon Now service” that operates within the same time constraint will do any better.

According to the first article in this section:

The [strategically located, urban micro-fulfillment] centers position essential products close to neighborhoods and work districts, utilizing advanced inventory systems that optimize product selection based on hyperlocal demand to maximize efficiency and speed. They also reduce the distance delivery associates need to travel and enable faster delivery times.

While this sounds ultra-easy, be on your guard against the constraints and surveillance of “SMART cities“.

Also, I speculate that Amazon may eventually move to drone delivery of some products so that they won’t even have to worry about land-based delivery problems.

Just saying…

Business

Clearinghouse

While I understand the desire of the company to want an exemption, I think that starting down the road to any exemption on the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse is the beginning of a slippery slope.

Legal

Routing

Pay attention to posted detours!

The last article in this section tells us:

An ongoing highway improvement project will cost truck drivers who fail to use the recommended detour $500.

That will get their attention!

Now, this raises another interesting situation…

How will an autonomous truck handle a detour?

Hmm….

5. Regarding Bypass, Capacity, Economy, Employment, Inflation, and Load Board:

Bypass

Articles have been published that describe just how much money truckers can save by having and using weigh station bypasses.

Capacity

Economy

Employment

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.

Load Board

The excerpt from the article in this section reads:

Spot rates are up more than 20% year over year on dry van according to the FreightWaves SONAR National Truckload Index, diesel crossed $5.64 a gallon nationally as of the week of May 4 per the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and the freight that stalled through most of the last three years is suddenly moving — but small carriers and owner-operators who treat a busy market as a solved cash problem are going to get hurt.

Please read the article for details.

6. Regarding Pay, Price Fixing, Rates, Tariffs, Taxes on Fuel, Tolls, and Towing:

Pay

Price Fixing

To me, the title of the article in this section suggests “price fixing” — which I oppose — and to that, I respond with this quote from a March 10, 2024, article:

Commodity price fixing in the 1960s and 1970s wreaked havoc on agricultural economy and food prices, as the USDA enforced unionism on American farmers and ranchers, further undermining food security.

What are your thoughts?

Please comment through the form below.

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 the articles in this section…

Taxes on Fuel

As a trucker consumer advocate, I must say 3 rather self-evident things:

  • First, everyone who wants to travel from Point A to Point B has to have a mode of transportation and a path between the two;
  • Second, in order to transport goods by land (not by rail), the accepted way to do that is over well-maintained roads; and
  • Third, there has to be some way to finance the building and maintenance of roads, the mechanisms usually being by either toll or tax.

For many years, the generally accepted way for governments to fund road building and maintenance was via fuel tax.

Wikipedia’s listing of Fuel taxes in the United States allows one to sort the 3 columns in the table: by state, by gasoline tax (see detail), and diesel tax (see detail).

I’m confident that different states have different ways of dividing the fuel taxes.

During a time of high fuel prices — and out of economic relief to customers — some people think that cutting a state’s fuel tax is a good idea.

But what happens to maintenance of infrastructure if fuel tax is not collected?

For example, as of this writing and according to the ARTBA Bridge Report:

There are 163 million crossings on over 41,600 bridges rated in poor condition.

I think that before one starts to slash taxes — that would go to building or maintaining infrastructure — one needs to examine where the current funds are being spent to see if internal measures can help lower the taxes from the inside.

Plus, we need to examine other factors that are affecting the high price of fuel, like an illegal, immoral, and unconstitutional war that the current U.S. President waged upon a country that has the rights to:

  • both defend itself (see Genesis 14 as the principle upon which self-defense is praised);
  • and control the amount of oil passing through an area that they control.

In my opinion, the U.S. president needs to humble himself and abandon his imperialistic actions, especially since he has just admitted that he took that action on behalf of a country other than the one he was elected to lead!

Tolls

Towing

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

7. Regarding Automation, DataQs, ELDs, Parts, and Technology:

Automation

Please note that “automation” is different from “autonomous vehicles,” which is below.

DataQs

ELDs

Parts

Technology

8. Regarding Autonomous Vehicles, Electric Vehicles, and Emissions:

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.

Emissions

9. Regarding Border, Bridges, Collapse, and Roads:

Border

Bridges

Articles about the Key bridge are in the next section.

Collapse

Regarding the news that “Ship operator and employee are charged in crash that caused the deadly collapse of Baltimore bridge,” I can imagine that now-late husband Mike would have responded:

“Well, it’s about long honking time!”

In my TDMST Weekly Round-Up from April 13, 2024, I wrote:

Payment for the repair of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore needs to come from the entity that owns the ship that hit it.

I provided a Biblical principle and then loosely adapted it to the bridge situation.

Feel free to look at what I wrote back then.

Meanwhile, here are other articles on this:

Roads

10. Regarding Crashes, Crime, Deaths, Distracted Driving, Drugs, Fatalities, Fraud, Scam, Smuggling, and Theft:

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.

Crime

This section contains an article that refers to more than one kind of crime going on at the same time!

Deaths

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

Distracted Driving

For reference purposes:

Distracted Driving: Beware of Attention Diverters That Can Be Fatal

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?

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.

Scam

Please be aware of and speak out against these and other types of scams that can impact truckers and trucking companies.

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.

11. Regarding Safety, Supply Chain, Training, and Weather:

Safety

Supply Chain

Training

Weather

12. Regarding Competition and Recognition:

Competition

According to the article in this section:

Eligible drivers will be scored and rewarded across three categories: safety consistency, hours-of-service compliance, and fuel efficiency.

May the most skilled drivers win!

Recognition

Thank you to everyone who helps out their fellow human beings in a time of need, whether it is a trucker doing the helping or a trucker being helped.

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: 2026.05.16 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.
Factoring that pays faster. Super fast funding speeds. DAT Outgo.
Factor smarter, faster, and save. Keep more of what you earn. DAT Outgo.
Rate Match Guarantee. We'll meet or beat your current rate. DAT Outgo.