Every May, the freight market goes through one of the most predictable — and most overlooked — disruptions of the year. It’s called DOT Week, and if you’re not planning around it, your supply chain is going to feel it.
This year, CVSA International Roadcheck runs May 12–14, 2026. Here’s what you need to know.
What Is DOT Week?
DOT Week — officially called CVSA International Roadcheck — is the largest targeted enforcement program for commercial motor vehicles in the world. For 72 hours, law enforcement across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico ramps up inspections at weigh stations, roadside checkpoints, and pop-up inspection sites. On average, nearly 15 trucks are inspected every minute across North America during this window.
Inspectors conduct what’s known as a Level I Inspection — a rigorous 37-step process covering everything from driver credentials and ELD compliance to brakes, tires, lights, and cargo securement. This year’s specific focus areas are ELD tampering and cargo securement, meaning inspectors will be actively looking for falsified driver logs and improperly secured loads.
If a violation is found, the truck stops. Right where it is. The freight doesn’t move until the issue is resolved.
15/min Inspections per minute across North America | 28.4% Vehicles placed out-of-service in 2025 — up from 23% in 2024 | 4–5% Cost-per-mile increase expected during DOT Week |
The Numbers Don’t Lie
This isn’t a minor inconvenience. The data from recent years paints a clear picture of how disruptive DOT Week can be.
In 2025, 28.4% of inspected vehicles resulted in out-of-service violations — up sharply from 23% in 2024. Driver out-of-service violations rose to 6.9%, up from 4.8% the prior year. Go back further: in 2023, 19% of vehicles were placed out of service. In 2022, that number hit 21.6%. Year over year, the enforcement is getting stricter — not looser.
That means more than one in four trucks inspected last year couldn’t keep moving. For a shipper with time-sensitive freight on one of those trucks, that’s not a statistic — that’s a missed delivery, a line-down risk, or an emergency spot market call at a premium rate.
Expect cost-per-mile increases of 4–5% week-over-week during DOT Week — with rate spikes that often extend into late June and early July, particularly for shippers moving freight on a transactional basis.
This Year Is Different
What makes 2026 particularly high stakes is the market context. Flatbed spot rates are already at $3.46/mile and van rates at $2.68/mile as of April 2026 — the highest levels in four years. Rates are elevated heading into DOT Week, meaning the floor is already high before a single driver parks their truck.
When you layer DOT Week on top of an already tight market, the math gets ugly fast. Capacity shrinks. Rates spike. And the shippers who didn’t plan ahead are left scrambling on the spot market at the worst possible time.
“We’ve seen shippers come to us during DOT Week in a panic because their carrier fell through and their line was at risk. It’s always the same story — they waited too long. The freight that needs to move most urgently is always the hardest to cover when you’re reactive.”
— Chris Shyti, Co-Founder, RJ Logistics
Why Drivers Stay Home
It’s not just about the inspections themselves. While many carriers meet all requirements, some are reluctant to risk the scrutiny due to increasingly detailed checks, which can lead to significant transit delays. Drivers with older equipment, documentation gaps, or compliance concerns simply choose to sit the week out rather than risk an out-of-service violation that could impact their record and livelihood.
The result is a meaningful reduction in available capacity across every lane in the country — not because freight demand went away, but because a significant portion of the trucks that normally serve that demand voluntarily removed themselves from it.
Any freight that doesn’t get picked up during Roadcheck rolls to Friday’s load board — creating a backlog that takes days to clear and keeps rates elevated well into the following week.
What Smart Shippers Are Doing Right Now
The good news is this is entirely predictable and entirely manageable — if you act before May 12th. Here’s what we’re telling our customers:
- Move your critical freight now. If you have time-sensitive or high-priority shipments, get them off the dock before the week begins. Every day of lead time you build in is one less emergency call you’ll need to make.
- Plan non-urgent freight for after May 14th. If it can wait, let it wait. The backlog clears within a week and rates normalize.
- Communicate with your logistics partner today. Don’t assume your capacity is locked. Have the conversation now, confirm your carriers are prepared, and make sure there’s a backup plan if something falls through.
- Build delivery flexibility into your schedule. Level I inspections take 30–60 minutes. Drivers running tight schedules will feel that. Build buffer into your pickup and delivery windows wherever possible.
- Work with carriers and brokers who have clean safety records. Brokers with vetted carrier networks can route around non-compliant carriers before they become your problem.
“DOT Week is one of those events where the preparation window is short but the cost of being unprepared is high. A phone call today is worth a lot more than an emergency rate on Wednesday.”
— Chris Shyti, Co-Founder, RJ Logistics
The Bottom Line
DOT Week is not a freight market collapse — the vast majority of carriers will operate as normal and most shipments will move without issue. But for the shippers who aren’t paying attention, it creates real exposure: missed pickups, delayed deliveries, inflated spot rates, and in the worst cases, production disruptions that could have been avoided entirely.
In a market where rates are already at a 4-year high and capacity is tighter than it’s been since 2022, there is no buffer for being caught off guard this week.
Plan ahead. Move your freight early. And if you have questions about your lanes or need help getting covered — our team is ready.
