JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Federal Motor Service Security Administration has eliminated greater than 10,000 industrial driver coaching suppliers from its federal registry since December 2025 and greater than 100 noncompliant digital logging units from its authorized checklist, in line with the company’s chief security officer.
Steve Dowling outlined the company’s increasing enforcement efforts Wednesday throughout a keynote handle on the second annual WEX OTR Summit in Jacksonville, Florida, saying FMCSA is strengthening oversight of economic driver coaching, licensing, provider registration and trucking operations.
Dowling, who turned FMCSA’s chief security officer in August, stated the company is taking a extra complete method to figuring out unsafe trucking corporations and stopping fraud earlier than carriers enter the business.
“If we need to defend the business, we have to guarantee that we begin on the driver stage and the way they’re skilled,” Dowling advised attendees.
The previous California Freeway Patrol official and Covenant Logistics security govt stated FMCSA’s enforcement technique focuses on 5 levels of economic motorized vehicle operations: coaching, licensing, registration, operations and enforcement.
Greater than 10,000 coaching suppliers eliminated
Dowling stated greater than 10,000 suppliers have been faraway from FMCSA’s Coaching Supplier Registry since December 2025.
The determine represents the company’s broader registry cleanup and shouldn’t be confused with the separate emergency enforcement motion introduced in August.
That motion focused roughly 110 industrial driver coaching faculties whose operations had been linked to greater than 5,000 drivers cited for English-language proficiency violations, in line with Dowling.
“Since December of ’25, there have been greater than 10,000 suppliers which have been faraway from the coaching supplier registry,” Dowling stated.
He stated the company intends to proceed reviewing driver coaching applications to make sure faculties meet federal necessities.
“You’ve seen an actual elevated enforcement effort from us and emphasis on that,” Dowling stated. “You’re going to proceed to see us attempt to guarantee that the colleges are doing what they’re presupposed to do.”
FMCSA can be strengthening oversight of state industrial driver’s license applications and third-party testing operations.
Dowling stated the company needs trucking corporations to believe that drivers who obtain CDLs have met constant federal requirements, whatever the state issuing the license.
ELD crackdown expands
FMCSA has additionally intensified its scrutiny of digital logging units, that are used to report industrial drivers’ hours of service.
Dowling stated the company has eliminated greater than 100 noncompliant units from its registered ELD checklist and prevented almost 600 others from being authorized.
“We’ve eliminated over 100 noncompliant ELDs from the registered gadget checklist, and we’ve prevented almost 600 from making it onto the checklist solely,” Dowling stated.
He stated the company is especially involved about logging techniques that may be manipulated to hide hours-of-service violations.
“You may’t go in and edit logs by making a telephone name,” Dowling stated. “Anytime we hear of that, we’re going and investigating.”
Dowling inspired motor carriers to confirm that their ELD suppliers stay on FMCSA’s registered gadget checklist and that the techniques they use can’t be improperly manipulated.
He stated the company intends to proceed strengthening oversight of ELD producers and different transportation know-how suppliers.
FMCSA targets chameleon carriers by means of registration overhaul
One other main enforcement precedence is figuring out so-called chameleon carriers — trucking corporations that shut down and reopen underneath new identities to evade security enforcement, penalties or different regulatory necessities.
Dowling stated FMCSA’s modernized registration system, Motus, is designed to enhance verification of provider possession and principal locations of enterprise.
He described cases through which a number of trucking corporations have registered utilizing the identical handle or publish workplace field, doubtlessly indicating makes an attempt to hide widespread possession or circumvent federal necessities.
“One location that possibly has 20 totally different DOT numbers popping out of a PO field in a location, that’s an issue,” Dowling stated.
The brand new registration platform is meant to establish suspicious purposes earlier than federal working authority is granted.
Dowling acknowledged that Motus has skilled technical issues throughout its rollout.
He stated roughly 95% of provider registration exercise was functioning by means of the system primarily based on knowledge he reviewed the earlier week, however acknowledged that issues affecting the remaining customers had been unacceptable.
“That’s not acceptable to us,” Dowling stated of the difficulties skilled by some candidates.
He stated FMCSA quickly suspended its biennial registration replace requirement whereas the company works to handle technical points.
Dowling stated the registration adjustments are serving to forestall doubtlessly fraudulent companies from getting into the trucking business.
“There are literally thousands of people who we’re protecting out of the business as a result of we’ve initiated [Motus],” Dowling stated.
He didn’t present a exact depend of blocked candidates or a breakdown of what number of had been suspected of fraud quite than affected by registration issues.
Federal investigators coordinate on trucking fraud
Throughout a question-and-answer session following the keynote, Dowling stated FMCSA is more and more working with the Justice Division, FBI and federal prosecutors to analyze chameleon carriers and different suspected trucking fraud.
He stated some investigations contain networks of corporations that function throughout a number of jurisdictions, making it essential to coordinate with different regulation enforcement businesses.
“You’re going to see instances that begin popping out which can be particularly combating in opposition to chameleon carriers,” Dowling stated.
He stated investigators are trying past particular person violations to establish connections amongst corporations, homeowners, gear and different operations.
“These investigations normally aren’t simply linear to the place, okay, it’s one violation to 1 provider,” Dowling stated.
The company can be counting on info supplied by trucking corporations, business representatives and others who establish suspicious carriers or doubtlessly noncompliant ELD suppliers.
Dowling stated FMCSA is actively investigating these reviews.
CDL enforcement effectiveness stays underneath overview
Dowling additionally addressed questions on federal enforcement of non-domiciled CDLs and English-language proficiency necessities.
He stated FMCSA is seeing indications that drivers who don’t meet non-domiciled CDL necessities may additionally have English-language proficiency violations.
Nonetheless, he acknowledged that the company wants extra time and knowledge to find out whether or not its enforcement initiatives are producing measurable reductions in crashes.
“Generally it’s a must to be affected person to have the ability to see if the issues that you’re doing works,” Dowling stated.
He stated FMCSA is amassing extra info and analyzing connections amongst driver coaching, licensing data and crash investigations.
The company can be working with state licensing authorities to make sure non-domiciled CDLs are issued and maintained in accordance with federal necessities.
Requested whether or not FMCSA has an correct depend of non-domiciled CDL holders presently working in america, Dowling stated he couldn’t recall a selected determine.
He famous that some non-domiciled CDL holders stay legally eligible to function and that the whole quantity is altering as states implement federal restrictions.
Dowling stated the company is specializing in auditing state licensing processes quite than relying solely on a nationwide depend.
Hours-of-service flexibility and security scoring adjustments forward
Looking forward to 2027, Dowling stated FMCSA is evaluating potential adjustments to hours-of-service rules and its Security Measurement System, which helps establish motor carriers for intervention.
He referenced ongoing analysis into extra hours-of-service flexibility, together with sleeper-berth provisions and the 14-hour responsibility window.
Dowling stated the company needs to find out whether or not present rules might be adjusted with out compromising efforts to forestall driver fatigue.
“Simply because that’s what the rule is doesn’t imply we don’t want to take a look at it,” he stated.
FMCSA can be analyzing the way it makes use of inspection, crash and compliance knowledge to establish high-risk motor carriers.
Dowling stated the company needs to focus its restricted enforcement sources on operations presenting the best security dangers quite than minor administrative violations.
“We are able to get extra predictive by knowledge evaluation on who’s extra prone to crash,” he stated.
Why it issues: FMCSA’s expanded scrutiny of CDL faculties, licensing businesses, digital logging units and provider registrations might considerably change how trucking corporations enter the market, recruit drivers and exhibit compliance heading into 2027.
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