The Playbook

Sage Sullyblues Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Big Rig Crash Closes Eastbound I-80 Near Donner Pass

A big rig crash closed eastbound Interstate 80 near Donner Pass early Tuesday morning, causing major traffic delays in California’s Sierra Nevada. According to CBS News, the crash happened shortly after 3:30 a.m. near the Donner Pass Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Facility, east of Truckee. According to reporting from CBS News Sacramento, the crash happened shortly […]

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Contributed Content Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Don’t Get in Trouble Again, C.H. Robinson: AI Everywhere Except Carrier Vetting Is a Problem

(The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of FreightWaves or its affiliates.) C.H. Robinson is having an AI moment. Its CEO, Dave Bozeman, has been publicly promoting the company’s Lean AI transformation, including AI agents, automation, productivity gains, appointment scheduling, quote responses, load tracking, and […]

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Sage Sullyblues Thursday, July 9, 2026

10% discount Gone? Progressive Ends Motive Dashcam Enrollments, Signals New Telematics Program

Progressive has ended new enrollments in its commercial trucking dashcam program with Motive, marking the end of a partnership that many fleets have used to improve safety and qualify for insurance discounts. The change became effective on July 1, 2026. While current customers will continue receiving benefits for now, trucking companies hoping to enroll in […]

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Adam Wingfield Thursday, July 9, 2026

He Found His Way Out of the Streets in a Prison Cell With a Pamphlet. This Is How Debon “DJ” Sims Built a Trucking Business Nobody Could Take From Him.

The decision that changed Debon Sims’s life got made in a prison cell, over a pamphlet. That is where this story starts, and it is worth sitting with, because it frames everything that comes after. In 2015, Sims got into what he calls the only kind of trouble he had ever been in, his first […]

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Adam Wingfield Thursday, July 9, 2026

PACCAR Is Raising the DEF Limp-Mode Speed From 5 MPH to 25 MPH. It Is Part of the Biggest Rollback of Diesel Emissions Enforcement in Years.

For any owner-operator who has ever been stranded on the shoulder of an interstate at 5 miles per hour because a sensor decided the diesel exhaust fluid system had a problem, the announcement PACCAR made on July 6, 2026 will read like overdue relief. The company is rolling out updated software for trucks equipped with […]

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Contributed Content Thursday, July 9, 2026

What the Plaintiff Attorney Who Won at the Supreme Court Looks for in Broker Negligent Selection Cases

(The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of FreightWaves or its affiliates.) When I interviewed Michael Leizerman, the plaintiff attorney who won at the United States Supreme Court in the broker negligent selection case now reshaping freight litigation, I expected pushback from the audience. More […]

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Rob Carpenter Wednesday, July 8, 2026

SCOTUS killed the broker defense; is truck leasing next?

The SCOTUS decision stripped brokers of the federal preemption defense used for years to escape negligent carrier selection claims. Almost nobody is talking about the commercial leasing and rental companies that made the decision to hand a 33-ton vehicle to the carrier in the first place. Their legal shield was different and the Supreme Court published the map to it.

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Rob Carpenter Monday, July 6, 2026

The prosecution and the pardon that ended the diesel wars

On July 3, 2026, President Trump pardoned early a dozen people who were convicted under the Clean Air Act for tampering with diesel emissions, months after the Justice Department stopped prosecuting diesel cases entirely. The technology is still bolted to every truck on the road, and nobody in Washington wants to discuss the “what now” of who pays for it.

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