Methodology
Editorial Methodology
How TruckTripGuide.com writes and reviews planning guides, the editorial team, the review schedule, and the correction policy.
TruckTripGuide.com is written as evergreen planning education. Pages are designed to help readers ask better questions before a trip, not to replace current official information or professional judgment.
The site favors official and high-trust sources for regulations, safety concepts, weather education, and public travel resources. When a topic depends on current conditions, the page points readers back to official or carrier-approved tools.
Who writes and reviews content
Planning guides are written by Dale Connors, founding editor, whose background includes 11 years of OTR driving and 7 years of fleet dispatch and safety coordination. For more on Dale's background, see the About page.
Regulatory content — HOS rules, ELD requirements, weigh station procedures, and inspection topics — is reviewed before publication by Sandra Park, a former motor carrier compliance specialist with 8 years of carrier safety management experience. Sandra checks that regulatory summaries accurately reflect current FMCSA guidance and flags any language that overstates what a planning guide can promise.
State traveler information pages and corridor guides are reviewed against the linked official state DOT resources before each publication cycle.
What we do
- Use official sources for HOS, safety, weather, rest areas, and state resources where available.
- Write conservative planning notes when exact conditions vary by state, property, equipment, or route.
- Explain what a driver or dispatcher should verify before relying on a plan.
- Keep commercial links limited and clearly separated from core planning content.
What we do not do
- We do not provide live parking counts.
- We do not quote current fuel prices.
- We do not approve legal truck routes, hazmat routes, low-clearance routes, or weather routes.
- We do not claim a trip plan guarantees compliance or safety.
Review schedule
| Content type | Review frequency | Trigger for off-cycle review |
|---|---|---|
| HOS and ELD regulatory pages | Quarterly | FMCSA rule change or guidance update |
| Weigh station and inspection pages | Quarterly | FMCSA or state enforcement guidance change |
| State traveler information links | Annually | Official state DOT resource URL change |
| Corridor planning guides | Annually | Significant route, restriction, or resource change |
| Weather education pages | Annually | NWS safety resource update or reorganization |
| Checklists and planning tools | When regulatory content changes | Any HOS, parking, or safety rule change affecting checklist items |
Correction policy
- Factual corrections submitted via [email protected] are reviewed within 14 days of receipt.
- Confirmed corrections are applied to the page and the lastUpdated date is refreshed.
- Corrections that change a key planning recommendation are noted in the article body so returning readers can identify what changed.
- We do not silently correct content that included a materially wrong statement.
Editorial independence
- No content on this site is sponsored, paid placement, advertiser-influenced, or affiliate-based.
- Source links in article sidebars point exclusively to official government and agency resources.
- Commercial tools referenced in articles (fuel cards, calculators) are included only when they serve the reader's planning need and are not monetized through this site.
- Editorial decisions about topics, framing, and update timing are made by the editorial team without external pressure.