The Importance of a Pre-Trip Inspection
Planning a safe trip as a professional truck driver requires thoughtful preparation before every journey. These are key practices to keep in mind throughout each stage of your trip.
Planning to Haul Freight over Memorial Day Weekend?
AAA predicts traffic will “be a doozy!”
The American Automobile Association (AAA) – long known for its accuracy in predicting holiday traffic volumes – has projected a 7% increase in travel volumes for the upcoming holiday weekend compared to last year. The majority of Americans traveling over Memorial Day weekend will drive. Just think of it: 37.1 million holiday drivers on the road, competing with ICSA members and other truckers and clogging up traffic everywhere, but most definitely in major metro areas like Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, Tampa and other large cities.
AAA also projects that travel times will double in those areas compared to normal traffic flows. Even worse, experience shows that far too many of these drivers will have been drinking, making for even more dangerous driving conditions. So when should you plan to be on the road to avoid traffic jams?
Traffic planners say the heaviest holiday-weekend road traffic is expected on Friday, May 26 between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. But the afternoons of Thursday, May 25; Monday, May 29; and Tuesday, May 30 are also going to be high volume, with plenty of potential for congestion and traffic snarls. The best days to travel – whether in a car or driving a truck with a delivery deadline – are Saturday and Sunday.
Lastly, National Safety Council statistics show that the average number of highway deaths over the past six Memorial Day weekends was 398 – a number that would likely have been higher had it not been for reduced travel during the pandemic years. Predictions are running as high as 450 deaths this holiday. Make sure you and/or your drivers aren’t among them. Stay safe out there.
Welcome to 2026! Here is What to Expect From the Feds
English-language proficiency, non-domiciled truck driver licensing, enforcement of cabotage rules, thorough commercial driver’s license (CDL) training… actions in all of these areas made trucking headlines in the first year of the Trump Administration.
Marijuana Rescheduling: What it Means for Trucking
On December 18, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order directing the federal government to conduct rulemaking to move marijuana from a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) to Schedule III.