Originally published at: Derek Barrs defends FMCSA’s bold moves at TCA - FreightWaves
ORLANDO–Derek Barrs received a standing ovation when he completed his address to the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) and it felt completely spontaneous and genuine. The new administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration spoke to his first TCA annual meeting Monday, fiercely defending the steps that the agency and other parts of the federal…
“WE’RE GONNA GO OUT THERE AND DO OUR JOBS, FOR CHRISSAKES, AND NOBODY’S GONNA STOP US !!!” AND THE CROWD GOES WILD….
The standing ovation at the Truckload Carriers Association meeting wasn’t about theatrics. It was about relief.
For years, compliant carriers have watched a shadow system metastasize beneath them — fly-by-night CDL schools, self-certified training mills, non-domiciled licensing loopholes, English proficiency rules ignored, ELDs rubber-stamped, and capacity built on regulatory arbitrage rather than professionalism. Those who followed the rules paid more for insurance, training, compliance staff, audits, and safety systems. Those who didn’t undercut rates.
When FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs said they were going to “do their jobs,” the crowd heard something different:
Enforcement is back.
Not new laws. Not theoretical reforms. Not task forces that produce white papers. Enforcement of what’s already on the books.
The English language requirement isn’t new.
The need for legitimate entry-level driver training isn’t new.
The expectation that a CDL should mean something isn’t new.
What’s new is consistent application.
If 7,000 suspect training schools are gone, that is not a crisis. That is an admission that the system had drifted far from its intended purpose. A federal registry without verification is not oversight — it’s paperwork.
Yes, capacity is tightening. Yes, rates are moving. And yes, that benefits compliant fleets.
But let’s be honest about what really happened over the last decade: safety standards were unevenly applied, and economic pressure rewarded the lowest-cost, lowest-barrier entrants. That wasn’t free-market dynamism. That was regulatory asymmetry.
Professional drivers deserve a system where:
- Training is real
- Testing is meaningful
- English requirements are enforced uniformly
- ELDs aren’t optional in practice
- Fraud isn’t treated as a rounding error
That is not xenophobia. It is baseline governance.
If safety enforcement strengthens freight rates, that is a market correction — not manipulation. When marginal, non-compliant capacity exits, price signals rebalance.
But this moment carries risk.
If reform becomes performance instead of policy — if enforcement is inconsistent, politicized, or symbolic — the industry will fracture. Small fleets operating honestly cannot be collateral damage in a purge aimed at bad actors. Replacement training capacity must be built, not just destroyed.
The applause in Orlando reflected a hunger for standards that mean something again.
The real test isn’t the ovation.
It’s whether this becomes a durable restoration of professionalism — or just another regulatory swing of the pendulum.
Doing the job is one thing.
Doing it right is another.
So still nothing in the budget at all, to police freight brokers? If you want more carrier safety, we need to insure they are paid on time, every time. How has the likes of Richard Francis(R&R Express Logistics, etc) not paying approximately 26,000 loads or Al Steele(Eleets then HTS Logistics) not paying thousands of carriers, effected truck safety. It has to have a negative impact, these carriers pay money to move these companies loads, only to not get paid, then they end up cutting corners trying to stay in business.
In my opinion, until someone earmarks money to police freight brokers, this safety issue won’t go away as much as it could. It won’t ever totally go away, but we could do much better if we made sure the brokerages stayed in line as well.