KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Highway safety is the agency’s No. 1 priority, FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs said during the Midwest Commercial Vehicle Safety Summit on Tuesday, Dec. 16.
Of course, that statement alone isn’t anything new. Leaders of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration have been delivering that sentiment for decades.
But it’s how Barrs follows up that often-used quote, along with recent actions and statements from the U.S. Department of Transportation, that give reason to believe this agency will take a new approach on how to achieve that goal.
“As we move into 2026, there’s one clear objective, and that has to be saving lives,” Barrs told a room full of FMCSA officials and other trucking stakeholders in the opening session of a two-day safety summit. “We can’t keep doing the same thing over and over and expect different results.”
Some of the new tactics are focused on making sure that truck drivers are well trained and qualified before they’re ever handed a CDL.
“Our research agenda is tightly aligned with FMCSA’s current priorities and that includes improving safety outcomes by strengthening the integrity of our training and licensing systems and processes … and improving our ability to identify high-risk carriers sooner and taking action.”
Weeks after Barrs was confirmed as FMCSA’s administrator in October, he joined Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to send a message to CDL mills, which are known for prioritizing getting applicants licensed over ensuring they are capable of operating an 80,000-pound vehicle. A quick Google search will reveal CDL training schools that claim they can get people a license in 24 hours.
“If you don’t want to follow our standards, then you need to stay out of the profession,” Barrs said at the October news conference. “If you are not following the rules, we’re going to make sure we’re going to put you out of business. We’re going to come after you.”
The DOT and FMCSA have also focused on ensuring that CDL holders are well vetted and can read and speak English.
Duffy has said that a trend in recent years of giving out hundreds of thousands of non-domiciled CDLs to foreign drivers who are no longer authorized to work in the U.S. has created a threat to public safety. In September, FMCSA issued an interim final rule that would remove nearly 200,000 of those non-domiciled CDLs. Thousands of truck drivers and other industry stakeholders submitted comments that will factor into how FMCSA elects to proceed.
The administration also hasn’t wavered from its belief that truck drivers must be able to read traffic instructions from electronic road signs and communicate with law enforcement officers in English to ensure that they are safe to operate on U.S. highways.
Both actions have led to lawsuits, but the administration has repeatedly described the measures as common sense.
“Safety is not just a concept,” Barrs said at the summit. “It’s personal. If you don’t have that passion, then you probably should be doing something else.” LL
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