National Truck Driver Appreciation Week runs September 13 to 19, 2026. The American Trucking Association set this year’s theme as “The Miles They Drive, The Sacrifices They Make.” For most schools and companies, that theme turns into a week of free coffee and social posts. At Diesel Driving Academy, it means something more specific, because DDA has spent over 50 years watching what those miles and sacrifices actually look like in Louisiana.
DDA opened its doors in 1972. Since then, it has trained thousands of drivers who now move freight through Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Monroe, and every stretch of highway between the Gulf Coast and the Arkansas line. Many of the trucks hauling goods along I-10, I-20, and I-49 right now were driven by someone who first learned to shift gears and back up a trailer on a DDA training range. That is not a marketing line. It is a fact that changes how this week should be treated.
What National Truck Driver Appreciation Week Actually Is
The American Trucking Associations started National Truck Driver Appreciation Week in 1988. This year marks the 38th time the industry has set aside a week in September to recognize the people who keep freight moving. The week is not run by any single company or school. It is a way to show support, and companies, families, and driving schools all take part in their own way, from roadside thank-you signs to driver meals at truck stops.
The theme matters because it points at something specific. Miles driven are easy to measure. What is harder to measure is the commitment behind them: choosing a career that keeps the country running, building steady income, and taking pride in work that most people rely on without ever thinking about it. That commitment does mean time away from home at points. It also comes with real rewards, including strong pay, independence on the road, and a career that does not require years of college debt to start.
Why 2026 Is a Different Kind of Year for This Week
A few things are happening in trucking right now that make this year’s appreciation week worth more than a passing mention.
The industry still needs drivers, and good employers want to keep them. The American Trucking Associations estimated a shortage of about 60,000 drivers in 2025 and says the industry will need to hire roughly 1.2 million new drivers over the next decade to replace retiring drivers and keep up with freight demand. Some industry economists point out that the bigger opportunity is connecting new drivers with employers who invest in supporting them, since driver turnover tends to be highest at companies that do not. That is one reason DDA works directly with established carriers that have a track record of retaining drivers, so graduates start their career with an employer built to keep them, not just hire them.
Federal enforcement of English language rules changed in 2025. Since June 25, 2025, a driver who cannot meet federal English proficiency standards during a roadside inspection can be placed out of service immediately. In the second half of 2025 alone, federal inspectors issued more than 12,000 out-of-service orders under this rule, compared with just 14 orders in the two years before it took effect. This matters for anyone considering a CDL career, because it raises the bar on what training has to cover.
Driverless trucks are no longer a future concept. In April 2025, a company called Aurora Innovation began running regularly scheduled driverless truck deliveries between Dallas and Houston, the first commercial self-driving trucking service of its kind on public roads. It is easy to read a headline like that and wonder if truck driving is a career with a shrinking future. It is not. The Aurora model runs hub to hub on a single limited highway corridor. Human drivers still handle the pickup, the delivery, the local roads, the bad weather, and the situations no computer has been trained to expect. That is true almost everywhere else in the country.
Put those three things together and this year’s theme reads differently. The miles are still being driven by people. The sacrifices are still being made by people. And the rules for who gets to drive those miles are getting more serious, not less.
Trucking by the Numbers
A few figures worth knowing, from federal and industry sources:
- Trucks moved more than 72 percent of all domestic freight tonnage in 2024, according to the American Trucking Associations.
- The trucking industry employed 3.58 million professional drivers in 2024.
- The median pay for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers nationwide was $58,640 in May 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- In Louisiana, about 28,490 people worked as heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, with roughly 3,060 job openings projected each year through 2034.
- More than 331 million tons of freight worth over $392 billion moved on Louisiana highways in a single recent year, and almost all freight in the state touches a truck at some point, even freight that starts on a barge or a train.
Louisiana’s freight numbers are not an afterthought here. They are the reason DDA has stayed open for more than 50 years. As long as goods move through Baton Rouge’s port complex, Shreveport’s highway corridors, and Monroe’s regional distribution routes, there will be a steady need for trained drivers, not just this week, but every week.
What the Job Actually Looks Like
Ask most people what a truck driver does and they picture the highway part. That is only part of it. A typical day for an over-the-road driver includes:
- Inspecting their vehicle thoroughly
- Hours of driving on highways, back roads, and city streets
- Constant attention to traffic, weather, and the condition of their goods
- Problem-solving on the fly when something does not go as planned
None of that shows up in a highway photo, which is part of why appreciation week exists in the first place. Along with the discipline it takes to do a physically demanding job safely day after day, drivers also gain something many careers cannot offer: they see the country, work with real independence, and know that what they haul keeps stores stocked, hospitals supplied, and families provided for, including their own.
How DDA Trains the Next Generation of Louisiana Drivers
DDA offers CDL training programs ranging from a 3-week CDL Prep course to a 20-week Advanced program, all built to meet current Entry-Level Driver Training requirements, across campuses in Baton Rouge, Shreveport, and Monroe. Graduates get lifetime job placement assistance, and DDA maintains hiring relationships with carriers including Stevens Transport, Werner Enterprises, TMC, and Schneider National. Students who need help covering the cost of training can look into financial aid options, including benefits available to veterans.
For anyone who has thought about this career and wondered whether now is a strange time to start because of everything happening in the industry, the honest answer is that now is actually a reasonable time to start. Demand is steady, Louisiana’s freight volume is not going away, and the schools training drivers today are training them to a higher standard than a decade ago.
Ways to Recognize a Driver This Week
- Give trucks extra following distance and room to merge, especially around loading zones and tight turns.
- Say thank you to a driver at a truck stop, rest area, or loading dock.
- Post a message of appreciation using the hashtags #NTDAW26 and #ThankATrucker.
- If you run a business that works with drivers, consider a small gesture during the week, such as a meal, a gift card, or simple public recognition.
Ready to see what a CDL career could look like for you? Learn more about DDA’s training programs or get started on financial aid options today.