The Playbook

Rob Carpenter Monday, February 9, 2026

A Billion-Dollar Fix for a Distraction Problem Disguised as an Underride Problem

The Stop Underrides Act 2.0 is back. Should trucking companies be forced to spend billions armoring their trailers against crashes that are overwhelmingly caused by the other driver? The bill’s sponsors say at least 300 people die annually in underride crashes. Meanwhile, distracted driving kills more than 3,200 people a year and is a contributing factor in the very side-impact crashes this bill claims to address.

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Rob Carpenter Saturday, February 7, 2026

Sam Express, AJ Partners, and Sham CDL School Aydana in Investigation of Fatal Indiana Amish Crash

A fatal Indiana crash has exposed a pipeline stretching from Kyrgyzstan to Chicago to Philadelphia, chameleon carriers sharing trucks and DOT numbers, a CDL school with no public footprint, an ELD allegedly built with a backdoor, and a driver whose immigration status passed a federal database check. Secretary Duffy is investigating. Will the investigation follow the money?

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Rob Carpenter Friday, February 6, 2026

REAL-ID, Mail-Order CDLs, and America’s CDL Free-for-All.

A Mexican licencia federal de conductor can be obtained without a behind-the-wheel road test. Third-party brokers advertise mail-order processing for as little as $200. Under existing reciprocity agreements, that license can be converted to an American CDL in states that accept foreign credentials, and at least six of those states have been flagged by FMCSA for failing to verify the legal presence of non-domiciled applicants.

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Rob Carpenter Friday, January 30, 2026

Congress Proposes Taking the Fox Out of the Henhouse

When a driver or carrier challenges bad data through FMCSA’s DataQs system, the appeal often goes right back to the same officer who issued the violation. That’s about to change. The Motor Carrier Safety Screening Modernization Act finally brings independent review to the challenge process, and that’s the real game changer buried in this bill.

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Rob Carpenter Friday, January 30, 2026

FMCSA Counts Inspections. Nobody Counts Compliance.

FMCSA and its state partners conduct 3.3 million roadside inspections annually, placing nearly a million vehicles and drivers out of service, but states are measured on inspection volume, not enforcement outcomes. The inspectors’ own alliance wants to eliminate the requirement that carriers confirm they fixed the problems. There are 800,000 carriers and 12,000 audits a year. Texas has a state law that conflicts with federal ELP requirements, so drivers get licensed there and are placed out of service elsewhere. We’re counting inspections. Nobody’s counting compliance.

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Rob Carpenter Friday, January 30, 2026

Non-Domiciled Rule Stayed, But FMCSA Is Still Stacking Paper

The D.C. Circuit stayed FMCSA’s non-domiciled CDL rule in November. The agency asked to place the litigation on hold while it works on a final rule. FMCSA is still seeking three-year approval for the information collection requirements, states must retain ID documents and SAVE queries for two years, and produce them within 48 hours of request.

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Rob Carpenter Thursday, January 29, 2026

The $75,000 Bond and Truckers Left Holding The Bag

Nearly 88,000 trucking companies closed in 2023. Fraud losses topped $455 million in 2024. Carriers filing claims against $75,000 surety bonds are discovering that the pot’s already been split 50 ways. As the Supreme Court prepares to rule on whether brokers can be held liable for hiring bad carriers, it’s time to ask: who really bears the risk in freight, and is the system rigged against the people actually moving the loads?

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Rob Carpenter Thursday, January 29, 2026

Bomb Cyclone Bearing Down on Mid-Atlantic and New England: What Drivers and Fleets Need to Know

The National Weather Service is forecasting a “significant East Coast winter storm threat” for this weekend, with a coastal low forming Friday and rapidly intensifying into a bomb cyclone as it tracks up the Eastern Seaboard. If you’re running freight anywhere from the Carolinas to Boston over the next five days, you need to pay attention right now.

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Rob Carpenter Wednesday, January 28, 2026

The Military Doesn’t Just Train Drivers. It Builds Citizens. Maybe That’s What We’re Missing.

The favorite argument from those supporting the ATA’s teen trucker push is “if they can go to war at 18, they can drive a truck at 18.” Military service transforms young people into disciplined, responsible adults who understand that their decisions affect others. That’s why military-trained drivers have 42% fewer accidents. The solution isn’t younger drivers; it’s requiring the standards that make military drivers safer. We’ve lost something fundamental in how we raise our young people, and the highway data proves it.

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