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TDMST Weekly Round-Up 2026.07.25

TDMST Weekly Round-Up 2026.07.25 is the trucking commentary on news affecting professional truck drivers for the week ending July 25, 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 License Plate Reader:

License Plate Reader

There has been a huge backlash across the United States over the automated license plate reader (ALPR) system set in place by “Flock Safety“.

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In fact, I wrote and presented a speech against this violation of The Fourth Amendment to The Constitution of the United States, at the Aiken County (SC) County Council meeting on Tuesday evening, July 21, 2026, based on statements made by the county Sheriff at a meeting on July 9.

The Fourth Amendment reads:

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.

According to the first article in this section:

On July 15, Rep. Keith Self (TX-03) introduced the Protecting Rights in Video and Equipment Acquired Discovery (PRIVACY) Act.

If passed, the bill would restrict federal access to surveillance data collected by state and local systems, including that gathered by Flock cameras and similar driver-monitoring technologies.

That’s a good start, but, in my opinion, the entire surveillance system needs to be dismantled — without vandalism or violence — through defunding the operation and voiding/rescinding contracts where they originated based on unconstitutionality.

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

Mike Adams wrote this article on July 23, 2026:
The Persian Gulf Is Never Coming Back — And That’s Exactly What They Want.

At one point in the article, he wrote:

What This Means for You: Stop Waiting, Start Preparing

Articles under this topic this week include:

Oil

3. Regarding Border, Bridges, Brokers, Business, Canada, Capacity, Containers, Insurance, Intermodal, Roads, and Warranty:

Border

Bridges

Why can’t the leaders of the USA and Canada come together on this?

Brokers

Business

Canada

Capacity

The description of the video on YouTube is:

Aaron Graft, CEO of Triumph Financial, dives deep into why this freight market cycle is structurally different. He explains that increased litigation, regulation, and legislation act as barriers to entry, preventing the surge of new capacity seen in previous upturns.

Do you agree or disagree — and why?

Please share your thoughts through the form below.

Containers

Insurance

According to the article in this section:

With commercial vehicle premiums rising for 59 consecutive quarters, many fleet operators have come to accept renewal increases as a given. But a fleet’s individual renewal outcome depends on more than broad market conditions.

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

Intermodal

Roads

According to the article:

Officials say that the project design will be finalized and construction will begin in 2027. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2032.

That seems a bit long to me.

Warranty

4. Regarding DEF, ELDs, EPA, Exemptions, and Recalls:

DEF

The article in this section covers the history behind DEF and different sides of the argument.

It also contains a link to: DieselMandate.com.

ELDs

EPA

Exemptions

This article includes:

After the conclusion of that review, FMCSA said in its Federal Register announcement, “FMCSA determined that these applicants do not satisfy the eligibility criteria or meet the terms and conditions of the Federal exemption and granting these exemptions would not provide a level of safety that would be equivalent to, or greater than, the level of safety” called for in federal law.

What are your thoughts about this?

Recalls

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

5. Regarding Authorization, Inspections, Language, Legal, Move Over, Operations, Safety, and Seat Belts:

Authorization

I covered the issue of passenger authorization in my July 18, 2026, TDMST Weekly Round-Up.

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;

Legal

Every professional truck driver needs to be aware of his/her truck’s numbers:

  • width,
  • length,
  • height,
  • weight,
  • distribution of that weight on/in the trailer(s),
  • where to place load securement devices,
  • etc.

Furthermore, he/she needs to know the weight and height limit for all routes he/she plans to take.

So there are no excuses for this:

‘Habitual offender’ locked up after operating overweight dump truck with no CDL.

Other articles this week include:

Move Over

The first article in this section describes a situation in Indiana and may apply to other states as well:

ISP cited state law in its release which “requires that all drivers operating other vehicles to, “when approaching an emergency vehicle with flashing emergency lights or sirens activated, immediately yield the right of way to the emergency vehicle by moving to change lanes to an available lane not immediately adjacent to the emergency vehicle.”

“If another lane is not open, drivers must proceed with due caution past the stationary emergency vehicle and immediately reduce their speed by at least 10 miles per hour until clearly past the emergency vehicle,” ISP stated. “This requirement to move over for stationary emergency vehicles applies not only to police, fire, ambulance and EMT vehicles, but also to stationary tow trucks, utility service vehicles, solid waste haulers, highway/road maintenance vehicles, construction vehicles, and survey crew vehicles that are displaying flashing yellow lights.”

What are your thoughts on the “move over” law?

Operations

Safety

Seat Belts

Quoting the article in this section:

Seat belts remain one of the most effective vehicle safety innovations ever developed, with experts crediting them with saving more lives than any other road safety intervention in history, reducing the risk of death by 45 to 50 percent. The protection is the same in a commercial truck as in a passenger car. The compliance gap is not.

“While US seat belt use across all vehicles has reached a record 92 percent, roughly 14 percent of commercial motor vehicle drivers and 27 percent of their commercial passengers still do not buckle up,” TSR said. “Seat belt non-compliance was the fourth most common roadside violation against commercial drivers in 2022, with more than 53,000 citations issued. …”

Wow! I can’t imagine any trucker not wearing a seat belt while driving a Commercial Motor Vehicle.

Please see this article on my site:

Seat Belt Use and Seat Belt Laws For Truckers.

6. 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

7. Regarding Alcohol, Crashes, Drugs, Fatalities, Smuggling, Speed Limit, and Theft:

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.

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?

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.

And don’t attempt to smuggle illegal products.

Speed Limit

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.

8. Regarding Economy, Rates, Tariffs, Taxes, Tickets, Tolls, and Trade:

Economy

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

Tickets

Quoting the article in this section:

Police say during the enforcement detail, troopers issued a total of 55 tickets, including 50 speeding tickets to motorists traveling through what police said was a clearly marked active work zone, where the speed limit had been reduced to 55 miles per hour.

Please watch your speed everywhere you travel!

Tolls

Trade

9. Regarding Parking, Politics, Politics Veterans, Regulations, Staged, and Testing:

Parking

Politics

The last two articles in this section cover a political move to ban some “foreign vehicle technologies” in the USA.

The next-to-last article in this section says, in part: “Lawmakers say that passing the bill is important from a national security and highway safety standpoint.”

What do you think?

Will that help?

Is there a higher priority, in your opinion?

Politics Veterans

The president does not have the authority to make this decision.

Regulations

Staged

I’m glad that this issue is getting the attention it deserves, but I believe that laws need to be passed on the state level.

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.

Testing

The article in this section says:

The California Department of Motor Vehicles has informed 11,000 driver’s license holders that they must retake their written tests after discovering potential cheating.

If you’ve gotten hung in this trap, how much is it going to cost you to re-take the test?

10. Regarding Supply Chain and Technology:

Supply Chain

Technology

11. Regarding Training, Troopers, and Weather:

Training

Troopers

Weather

12. Regarding Nominations and Recognition:

Nominations

Do you know a deserving woman in trucking whom you can nominate?

Recognition

Thank you to everyone who helped out their fellow human beings in a time of need, whether it was the trucker doing the helping or the 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: 2026.07.25 to our TDMST Weekly Round-Up Trucking Commentary or our Truck Drivers Money Saving Tips home page.



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.