Life on the Road: The Ultimate Trucker’s Blog
What to Pack for OTR, From the Documents to a Four-Week Bag
What to Pack for OTR, From the Documents to a Four-Week Bag “I start my first OTR run next week and I’ll be out about four weeks. What do I pack?” Less than you think. The answer to what to pack for OTR fits in one duffel, one plastic bin
CDL Disqualification and the Violations That Take You Off the Road
CDL Disqualification and the Violations That Take You Off the Road The CDL disqualification that surprises drivers most starts with a speeding ticket paid online in two minutes. Federal rules treat paying the fine as a conviction. If the ticket was for 15 mph or more over the limit, it’s
Truck Idling Laws by State and City, With the Limits and the Fines
Truck Idling Laws by State and City, With the Limits and the Fines A heavy truck burns about 0.8 gallon of diesel an hour at idle, according to Argonne National Laboratory. At the EIA average of $6.199 a gallon on October 5, 2026, that’s just under $5 an hour, or
Time Zones for Truck Drivers, From the Dock Clock to the ELD
Time Zones for Truck Drivers, From the Dock Clock to the ELD The receiver in Columbus, Ohio, wants you at door 14 at 6:00 a.m. Your ELD, set to a terminal in Illinois, will read 5:00 a.m. when you back in. Mixing up those two clocks is the oldest way
Truck Driver Salary by State, Ranked From the Newest Federal Data
Truck Driver Salary by State, Ranked From the Newest Federal Data Washington pays heavy truck drivers more than any other state in the lower 48. Its average was $68,230 a year in the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for May 2025, the newest federal numbers available this fall. Louisiana
Becoming a Truck Driver at 50 Works When Your Health and Your Plan Hold Up
Becoming a Truck Driver at 50 Works When Your Health and Your Plan Hold Up “I’m 52. Am I too old to get a CDL?” The question usually comes just like that, before anyone pays for CDL school. For anyone seriously considering becoming a truck driver at 50, the answer
Diesel Gelling in Winter and the Temperatures That Stop a Truck
Diesel Gelling in Winter and the Temperatures That Stop a Truck Diesel gelling starts well above 0°F. Untreated No. 2 diesel begins to cloud with wax at about 6–14°F, according to Minnesota-based fuel supplier CHS, and water in the fuel can ice up a filter at 32°F. On October 1,
Your Paper Medical Card Stops Counting After October 11, 2026
Your Paper Medical Card Stops Counting After October 11, 2026 The costliest medical-card mistake this fall is a quiet one. A CDL driver passes his DOT physical, tucks the paper medical card behind the visor and never checks whether the result reached his state’s CDL record. Until October 11, 2026,
Truck Driver Pay Increases in 2026 and How to Judge the New Offers
Truck Driver Pay Increases in 2026 and How to Judge the New Offers On September 7, 2026, Anderson Trucking Service moved its regional company van drivers from 60 to 70 cents a mile. That 16.7% truck driver pay increase is one of the largest in the St. Cloud, Minnesota, carrier’s
Trucking Company Bankruptcy and What a Driver Does in the First 24 Hours
Trucking Company Bankruptcy and What a Driver Does in the First 24 Hours You’re 900 miles from home with a loaded reefer when dispatch sends two words: park it. That is how a trucking company bankruptcy usually reaches a driver. This fall it reaches more of them. FreightWaves counted at
Self-Driving Trucks in 2026: Will They Replace Truck Drivers?
Will Self-Driving Trucks Replace Truck Drivers in 2026? On September 23, 2026, Aurora gave investors rides on I-45 between Dallas and Houston in a truck with nobody behind the wheel, and told them it wants more than 30,000 driverless trucks on the road by 2030. That same month it had
Lease Purchase Trucking: The Real Math Before You Sign for a Truck
Lease Purchase Trucking and the Real Math Before You Sign for a Truck Lease purchase trucking is sold as the shortcut to “your own truck”: no bank, no credit check, start next week. But in January 2025 a federal Truck Leasing Task Force told Congress that carrier lease-purchase programs should
Is Truck Driving Worth It in 2026? An Honest Answer From the Road
Is Truck Driving Worth It in 2026? An Honest Answer From the Road Is truck driving worth it? For three years the honest answer was “maybe, if you can ride out a bad market.” As of September 2026 the picture has changed. The Cass Freight Index just posted its first
CDL School Shut Down? What the 2026 Crackdown Means for Students and New Drivers
CDL School Shut Down? What the 2026 Crackdown Means for Students and New Drivers On August 31, 2026, federal regulators ordered more than 110 truck-driving schools to stop training immediately and put another 160-plus on notice. If your CDL school shut down in that sweep, or you’re about to hand
Record Diesel Prices Truck Drivers Face: Who Pays and How Much
Record Diesel Prices Truck Drivers Face. Who Pays and How Much On September 21, 2026, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) put the national average for on-highway diesel at $6.529 a gallon, the highest weekly reading in its records and about 74% above the $3.749 of a year earlier. California
How to Chain Up a Semi Truck: A Driver’s Winter Guide
How to Chain Up a Semi Truck, a Driver’s Winter Guide Every driver who runs the West learns this sooner or later. The chain law sign lights up, the checkpoint is a mile ahead, and the only question that matters is whether you’ve done this before. Chaining up is not
Sleep Apnea and the DOT Physical: The Truck Driver’s No-Panic Guide
Sleep Apnea and the DOT Physical, a No-Panic Guide for Truck Drivers Ask ten drivers what scares them most about the medical exam and eight will say the same two words: sleep apnea. The stories travel fast. Somebody’s buddy walked into a clinic with a valid card and walked out
ELD Malfunction: What to Do — A Driver’s Step-by-Step Guide
ELD Malfunction. What to Do — A Driver’s Step-by-Step Guide The ELD screen goes red in the middle of Nebraska, and the first thought is always the same. Am I legal right now? Yes, you are, if you know the drill. ELD malfunction, what to do about it, is one
Dash Cams for Truck Drivers: Why a Camera Is Career Insurance
Dash Cams for Truck Drivers. Why a Camera Is Career Insurance A CDL is the most expensive document most drivers will ever hold, and today’s courtroom climate can put it at risk over thirty seconds of traffic you didn’t cause. A dash cam is the cheapest witness you will ever
Truck Driving in High Winds and Severe Weather: A Driver’s Survival Guide
Truck Driving in High Winds and Severe Weather. A Driver’s Survival Guide Every driver respects ice. Far fewer respect wind, and it’s wind, not snow, that flips trailers on clear, dry days. Add hurricane evacuations, flash floods and the odd tornado or dust storm, and severe weather turns into a
Night Driving Tips for Truck Drivers: A Practical Guide
Night Driving Tips for Truck Drivers (A Practical Guide) Every OTR driver ends up running at night sooner or later. The appointment is at 5 a.m., the roads are empty, and the schedule says go. Night miles are real miles, often the smoothest of the week, but they play by
Cargo Theft Prevention for Truck Drivers: A 2026 Guide
Cargo Theft Prevention for Truck Drivers (A 2026 Guide) Cargo theft used to be a bolt-cutter crime: a dark lot, a quiet trailer. Today it’s an organized business with call centers, fake carrier identities and a shopping list, and refrigerated food loads sit near the top of that list. A
Personal Conveyance Rules for Truckers: What Counts and What Doesn’t
Personal Conveyance Rules for Truckers. What Counts and What Doesn’t No button in the ELD starts more arguments than personal conveyance. One driver swears you can run 200 miles on it. Another won’t touch it because “that’s how you get a false log.” Both are wrong. Here are the personal
What to Do After a Semi Truck Accident: A Driver’s Step-by-Step Guide
What to Do After a Semi Truck Accident (A Driver’s Step-by-Step Guide) It’s the phone call no driver wants to make and the shoulder nobody wants to stand on. Run enough miles and the odds find everyone eventually: a four-wheeler cuts across your hood, a car rear-ends you at a