FMCSA chief vows to ‘clean up the mess’ in modern trucking

KISSIMMEE, Florida—The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has a lot of work to do to elevate good carriers and drivers while going after bad actors who drag trucking down.

That was the overarching message FMCSA Administrator Derek D. Barrs, former Florida Highway Patrol chief, delivered to carrier executives in an at-times fiery speech at the Truckload Carrier Association’s (TCA) annual convention at the Gaylord Palms outside Orlando. 

Barrs, who was confirmed to lead FMCSA in October, did not mince words about some trucking segments, pointing to an urgent need to “clean up the mess” created by fraudulent operators, driving schools, and technology providers. The agency is taking a hardline stance against “shell entities and chameleon carriers” through a series of sweeping registry purges. 

Commercial driver schools are among Barrs’ primary targets, noting that these “CDL mills” help unqualified truck drivers become licensed and road legal. He boasted that FMCSA has already removed more than 7,000 entry-level driver training (ELDT) providers from its registry. 

“To be honest with you, I would just assume that we go through and just clear all of them out and start all over again,” Barrs told the crowd. He said the system needs a massive overhaul to ensure that new drivers are actually receiving legitimate instruction. 

CDL schools aren’t the only part of the industry receiving extra scrutiny during the second Trump administration. FMCSA is taking a harder stance on electronic logging device (ELD) certification. More than 80 ELDs have been removed from its approved list in the past six months, Barrs said. What was once a self-certified process now has roadblocks for providers. He noted that more than 400 recent ELD certification applications have not passed the agency’s intensified internal vetting process. 

This law-and-order approach is getting strong backing from established trucking companies, including the truckload carriers at Truckload 2026 here. Outgoing TCA President Jim Ward, a former fleet chief executive, recalled a conversation he had with Barrs during his Senate confirmation process when Barrs asked what he could do for the truckload industry. 

“I said I could probably answer that in two words: enforce regulations,” Ward said to Barrs on stage Monday. “And you’re doing a great job at it.”

Strengthening the CDL: Dalilah Law and language standards

Barrs appeared on stage here at the biggest annual gathering of truckload carriers, less than a week after President Donald Trump called on Congress to pass the proposed Dalilah Law.

Barrs said it’s essential to ensure that the commercial driver’s license itself represents actual competency rather than just a mere “paper certification.”

He echoed Trump’s push for the Dalilah Law, named after a 5-year-old crash survivor, which aims to reinforce accountability and consistency in how CDLs are issued and verified. Barrs noted the rarity of a sitting president addressing the trucking industry as President Trump did in February’s State of the Union address. The young girl for whom this law was named was critically injured in a crash that involved an illegal alien truck driver. 

“Your CDL should represent real training, real qualifications, real competency, and it must be issued in a way that is consistent (and) resistant to fraud,” Barrs said Monday. 

As part of that enforcement consistency, FMCSA is cracking down on English-language proficiency standards. Barrs emphasized that the ability to read road signs and understand safety instructions must be applied as written—rather than selectively or unevenly. Allowing loopholes, the former law enforcement officer said, puts professional drivers at risk when operating alongside drivers who might not fully understand critical instructions.

Data-driven study could spell relief for hours-of-service regs

While the administrator spent much of his address to carriers focused on the strict enforcement under his watch, he also teased significant industry opportunities to shape future operational flexibility. 

In response to long-called-for revisions, FMCSA is launching two hours-of-service (HOS) pilot programs to evaluate whether added flexibility can improve driver well-being and operations without compromising safety.

• 14-hour pause: The first pilot allows participating drivers to pause their 14-hour on-duty driving window for 30 minutes to three hours. This could help drivers take a longer break to avoid severe congestion, wait out unsafe weather conditions, or rest when fatigued without penalizing their daily clock.
• Sleeper berth splits: The second pilot explores additional sleeper berth configurations, specifically testing 6/4 or 5/5 splits to provide more adaptable rest periods.

To move these initiatives forward, Barrs told the carrier executives here that more real-world data is needed. He said FMCSA is seeking 18 drivers to participate in the study.

Looking ahead at federal rulemakings and modernization

While much of the trucking industry has welcomed deregulation of heavy-duty emissions from the Trump Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), FMCSA is pursuing an aggressive enforcement strategy alongside technological overhauls.

• Broader regulatory net: Barrs noted that FMCSA is actively pursuing nine different rules to crack down on fraud and exploitation. These upcoming rules will address a wide range of vulnerabilities—from English-language proficiency requirements to updates to the unified registration system and new-entrant training.
• Modernizing legacy systems: The agency is also working to update legacy data systems built decades ago. Barrs described this complex work as adapting to new technologies and operational modes, taking a methodical, “layer by layer” approach to this vast overhaul.
• Relentless pace: Acknowledging the massive workload and ambitious agenda ahead, Barrs promised that the agency would not let up. “We’re going to bite off more than we can chew at FMCSA, most likely, but our team is going to keep chewing,” he said.

While the former highway patrol chief is focused on rooting out bad actors on U.S. roads, Barrs reminded the fleet representatives in the audience that this work will benefit the legitimate fleets that drive the U.S. economy. 

“I hope that you’ll get the point that we have a lot of work to do at FMCSA,” he said. “I value and appreciate the partnerships that we have with each and every one of you as we drive this industry forward and we take the bad actors out so the good can prevail.”