Land Line Media
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s long-anticipated new registration system is about to launch.
Called Motus, the new system aims to “streamline processes, enhance fraud prevention and provide a more intuitive, user-friendly experience for supporting companies, motor carriers, brokers and other registrants.”
According to a news release from FMCSA issued on Wednesday, Dec. 3, Motus will begin with a soft launch next week before becoming open to all registrants in 2026. The initial launch will be limited to transportation service providers, BOC-3 filers and financial responsibility filers.
The road toward a new system has been a long one as FMCSA’s Ken Riddle discussed the rollout at the Mid-America Trucking Show in March 2024. At that time, Riddle said a lot of the motivation for change stemmed from a surge in fraud.
“Fraud and freight theft are at an all-time high in the commercial motor vehicle industry,” Riddle said. “Every corner of the industry is experiencing fraud, whether it be on the carrier side, the broker side … We’ve been asked, ‘What can you do, FMCSA?’”
What’s next?
When Motus launches for all users, it will not include the introduction of safety registration, the elimination of docket numbers or changes to the BOC-3 form filing process, according to the FMCSA website. Rather, those potential changes are under consideration and will be open for public comment in a notice of proposed rulemaking. According to the latest regulatory agenda, FMCSA is projected to until that proposal in March 2026.
FMCSA says some of Motus’ features will include:
- Consolidation of FMCSA forms into a single online system
- Easily accessible company account pages to manage user and business information
- Enhanced user roles to engage the right people at the right time
- All regulated entities will continue to be identified by a USDOT Number
- Suffixes at the end of the USDOT Number will indicate each type of registration granted
- Auto-population tools, real-time validation, smart logic, edit checks and notifications
- Mobile devices and tablets can be used to view and update registration information on the go
- New identity verification software and user roles to protect and control system access
- New business verification and information edit checks to validate key information
- The system will support automated, secure processes for users to conduct business electronically
FMCSA’s announcement that Motus is about to launch should be a good sign that the agency’s broker financial responsibility rule will take effect early next year.
Under the new rule, which is set to take effect on Jan. 16, 2026, brokers, freight forwarders and financial responsibility providers will need to comply with new broker security regulations, including the suspension of operating authority if the available financial security falls below $75,000.
The original compliance date was set for 2025, but FMCSA delayed it for a year because the new registration system wasn’t ready.
FMCSA didn’t immediately respond to Land Line’s questions about whether or not the registration system will be ready to maintain the Jan. 16, 2026, compliance date.
Each year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) releases a “Top 10” list of the most frequently cited safety and health standards, a barometer of where employers most commonly fall short in protecting workers. For the fiscal 2025 year, the latest data reveals that many of the familiar “usual suspects” remain on the list, with Fall Protection (29 CFR 1926.501) once again dominating the rankings. For safety managers, compliance officers, and business leaders, understanding which standards attract the most citations will help provide a roadmap for prioritizing corrective action, allocating training resources, and reducing costly penalties. In this article, we dig into the top 10 OSHA standards cited in 2025 and offer insight on how to avoid becoming a statistic.
Top Ten Cited OSHA Standards:
Preliminary data that was recently revealed during the 2025 NSC Safety Congress & Expo shows that many familiar compliance issues persist, reminding us that there’s still work to do to improve safety across all industries. From fall hazards to machine guarding, these are the top 10 most frequently cited OSHA workplace standards that made headlines below for 2025:
- Fall Protection– standard 1926.501, with 5,914 total violations.
- Hazard Communication– standard 1910.1200, with 2,546 total violations.
- Ladders– standard 1926.1053, with 2,405 total violations.
- Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout)– standard 1910.147, with 2,177 total violations.
- Respiratory Protection– standard 1910.134, with 1,953 total violations.
- Fall Protection– Training Requirements-Standard 1926.503, with 1,907 total violations.
- Scaffolding– standard 1926.451, with 1,905 total violations.
- Powered Industrial Trucks– standard 1910.178, with 1,826 total violations.
- Personal Protective and Lifesaving Equipment– eye and Face Protection-standard 1926.102, with 1,665 total violations.
- Machine Guarding– standard 1910.212, with 1,239 total violations.
How to Avoid Getting Cited?
Avoiding these common citations starts with a proactive approach to safety. Here are a few practical steps to help keep your workplace compliant and your employees protected.
Stay informed: Keep up with the latest OSHA regulations and safety guidelines to stay ahead of potential risks. Staying current allows you to spot hazards early and take corrective action before they escalate.
Train your employees: Make sure all workers receive thorough, job-specific safety training. Well-trained employees are better equipped to recognize and avoid workplace hazards.
Conduct regular safety inspections: Schedule routine inspections to proactively identify unsafe conditions or practices. Addressing issues promptly helps prevent accidents and citations.
Provide proper personal protective equipment (PPE): Ensure every employee has the right PPE for their tasks, such as hard hats, gloves, safety glasses, or hearing protection and that they use it consistently.
Encourage hazard reporting: Foster open communication by urging employees to report potential hazards without fear of reprisal. Early reporting helps you correct risks before they cause harm.
Build a culture of safety: Make safety part of your company’s DNA. Lead by example, recognize safe behavior, and involve employees in identifying and solving safety challenges.
By following these tips, employers can help reduce the risk of OSHA violations and create a safer workplace for their employees.
As 2025 ends, IFTA is among the renewals that must be filed by Wednesday, Dec. 31.
The International Fuel Tax Association (IFTA) is an agreement between the 48 contiguous U.S. states and 10 Canadian provinces for motor carriers operating in more than one jurisdiction to report fuel used.
Carriers must display one or more of the following to travel through IFTA member jurisdictions for the first two months of 2026.
- A valid 2026 IFTA license and two decals issued by an IFTA member jurisdiction.
- A valid 2025 IFTA license and two decals from a member jurisdiction (if a renewal application has been filed for 2026)
- A valid trip permit issued by the member jurisdiction through which they are operating.
There is a two-month grace period for the display of IFTA renewal credentials. However, it’s important to note that the grace period applies only to the display and not to the filing of the renewal application.
IFTA is required for the following vehicles:
- Motor vehicle used, designed or maintained for the transportation of persons or property
- Gross vehicles or registered gross vehicle weight over 26,000 pounds
- Three axles regardless of weight
- Used in combination when the weight combination exceeds 26,000 pounds
IFTA is divided into West, Midwest, Southeast, Northeast and Canadian membership regions.
Who to contact within your specific jurisdiction can be found under the Carrier Information tab on the IFTA website.
Webinars covering the IFTA clearinghouse, compliance review and dispute resolution are available on the website.
David Hollis
It was a transformative year in many ways for the trucking industry in this country, as many carriers of all sizes struggled with depressed rates, and a reduced amount of freight. There were numerous mergers and acquisitions, and no small number of fleets of all sizes simply called it quits or sought to reorganize through bankruptcy.
Earlier this month, St. Louis based Enterprise Mobility announced it had acquired Hogan Transports, a major family-owned carrier, which provides truckload and dedicated services, truck rental and leasing. Hogan, also located in St. Louis has 10,000 pieces of equipment and 50 locations. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Other mergers and acquisitions during 2025, included:
- Schneider expanded its dedicated services with the acquisition of Baltimore-based Cowan Systems for a reported $390 million.
- Hub Group acquired Marten Intermodal, expanding its temperature intermodal operation.
- OneCompass Holdings, the parent company of Hyway Transportation, acquired Koleaseco, Inc., a full service asset-based carrier with 148 drivers.
- Knight Swift merged its three LTL carriers – Midwest Motor Express, DHE, and AAA Cooper – under the AAA Cooper name.
- Heartland Express integrated CFI’s U.S. operations, rebranding it as part of Heartland.
- Page Trucking acquired Goulet Trucking, to form Page G.T.C. Inc. The deal is expected to close early next year.
- LRT Group, a transportation and logistics provider headquartered in Fort Payne, Alabama acquired XGS Global Systems, which operates 315 trucks out of its Chattanooga base.
- Calgary, Alberta, Canada’s Trimac Transportation made three significant acquisitions in 2025: Watt & Stewart, a flatbed/specialized carrier; Searcy Trucking, which hauls oversized loads; and Service Transport Company, a chemical hauler.
- TCI Transportation has acquired Kansas-based Success NationaLease, a Kansas-based leasing company, adding more than 450 trucks and three facilities to TCI’s nationwide network.
- Nagle Companies, a provider of temperature-controlled food transportation based in Ohio, acquired Kandel Transportation, which is also based in Ohio.
- Premier Bulk Systems based in Gormley, Ontario, Canada acquired Longhorn Transportation, which is located in Berry Mills, New Brunswick, Canada.
- Kenan Advantage Group purchased dry bulk carrier Evergreen Transport, LLC,, M.C. Tank Transport, Inc., expanding their chemical and ISO container services, and Fisher Transport for milk transport. KAG is headquartered in North Canon, Ohio.
- Walmart sold its Canadian fleet of 450 trucks and 4,500 trailers to Canada Cartage. There are 400 Walmart stores in Canada.
- LTL carrier Sutton Transport was acquired by Pitt Ohio Transportation Group and merged with Dohrn Transfer.
- Pennsylvania flatbed carrier PGT Trucking acquired family-owned Debrick Truck Line Co., which is based in Paola, Kansas.
Numerous bankruptcies and closings in 2025
The American trucking industry also lost a lot of carriers during 2025. The list is long and varied. It also speaks to how demanding the market became this year.
Some companies filed for bankruptcy, either reorganizing or going out of business. Others simply closed their doors and ceased operations.
Regardless of how they exited, they put a lot of truckers and other employees out of work.
Among the trucking companies that ceased operations were several sizeable carriers including:
- 10 Roads Express, a major carrier for the U.S. Postal Service, announced in November it would shut down operations completely.
- Carroll Fulmer Logistics, a major Florida-based company closed its doors after 71 years in operation. The company said numerous legal battles and economic pressures lead to its closing. Ironically, the man who founded the company and put his name on it died shortly after the company closed.
- Montgomery Transport LLC, an Alabama-based flatbed carrier with more than 458 drivers filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, ceasing operations in October.
- LTI Trucking, an Illinois-based regional carrier, eased operations in April, putting some 250 drivers out of work.
Other companies going out of business or declaring bankruptcy during 2025 included:
- Atlantic Overseas Express – Doral, Florida-based carrier filed for bankruptcy in October
- AZA Transportation Inc. – Filed for Subchapter V Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May
- Balkan Express/Balkan Logistics – The Texas-based companies with more than 160 drivers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April
- Best Choice Trucking LLC – based in Dedham, Massachusetts, filed for Chapter 11 in April; it had nine drivers
- Best Logistics Inc. – A 3PL in Memphis, Tennessee filed for Chapter 11 in April
- C & C Freight Network – A small Braselton, Georgia-based carrier filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 7
- CLB Trucking – The Greenburg, Pennsylvania-based carrier with nine power units filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September
- Daniel Trucking International Inc. – A family-owned nationwide refrigerated hauler from Des Plaines, Illinois filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July
- Davis Express Inc. – This Florida-based regional reefer carrier with 160 trucks permanently ceased operations in April
- Dolche Truckload Corp. -The Illinois-based carrier filed for Chapter 11 restructuring in June
- Elite Carriers – Based in Merrill, Wisconsin the company Filed for Chapter 11 in May along with four affiliates.
- Epic Lightning Fast Service – A San Diego-based Amazon with over 100 drivers, closed in October
- GMB Transport -The Upstate New York carrier with five drivers filed for bankruptcy in September
- James R. Smith Trucking – A 70-year-old family-owned Cullman, Alabama carrier shut down operations this month
- L.S. Trucking –
- Nortia Logistics Inc. – The Chicagoland carrier filed for Chapter 11 in June
- P. Judge – A New Jersey-based trucking and warehousing firm in business for over 100 years old, filed for bankruptcy in November
- Precision Express –
- Sky Rock Trucking –
- Supra National Express – Filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2025.
- TGS Transportation Inc. – A drayage and logistics company that shut down after 40 years in business in July 2025.
- VIB Trans, Inc. – An Illinois-based carrier that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid the freight recession.
- WBK Transport –
- Xtreme Quality Logistic LLC – The Orlando-based company and its affiliate, Winstar Investments LLC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 2025.
- Tony’s Express, headquartered in Fontana, California closed up shop in April after 70 years in business. The company had 87 drivers.
- MinStar Transport and Transport Design Inc., both owned by the Minneapolis-based True North Equity Partners closed abruptly earlier this month, putting a combined total of 200 drivers out of work.
Malcolm Rosenfeld
Thousands of businesses across the United States have a GPS problem. Employees have learned how to mess with GPS.
GPS spoofing and GPS jamming devices have become inexpensive and easy to use. For as little as $10, delivery drivers and long-haul truckers can disguise their locations, so dispatchers won’t know they are taking long breakfast breaks or having a tryst at the motel 6.
Teenagers have learned how to use GPS jammers to block their parents’ tracking apps and for cheating at Pokémon Go. Nefarious drug runners and human traffickers spoof border patrol drones. And dodgy freight companies can use GPS spoofers and jammers to change the time stamps on arriving or departing cargo.
As we’ll explore in more detail a little later, all of these activities violate Federal law, but they are a reality of living in the 2020s. These disruptions not only affect their targets; they can also affect anyone using GPS in the vicinity.
What Is a GPS Jammer?
So, what is a GPS jammer, exactly, and how do they work?
A GPS jammer is a device that uses radio frequencies to transmit a signal that blocks, jams, or interferes with GPS systems. These devices disrupt all aspects of GPS including navigation and tracking.
The devices are usually small, and most of them are a snap to install. All a user has to do is to plug them into the car charger port and make sure the device is close to the GPS tracker. This way it can interfere with the signal.
GPS jammers and spoofers take less than 30 seconds to power up. They can be taken out and plugged again as needed, covering up evidence of wrongdoing. This makes them attractive to criminals and unreliable employees (and delinquent teenagers) who don’t want employers, parents, or the police to track them.
GPS jammers are easy to find. Do a search in Google for GPS jammers, and you can find numerous websites where you can purchase them including an e-commerce site called Jammer Store.
Are GPS Jammers Illegal?
So, are GPS jammers and spoofers legal?
If you go to the US government’s GPS website’s page on jamming, the first thing you will see is:
“Federal law prohibits the operation, marketing, or sale of any type of jamming equipment that interferes with authorized radio communications, including cellular and Personal Communication Services (PCS), police radar, and Global Positioning Systems (GPS).”
There are very good reasons it is illegal to interfere with GPS devices. Emergency medical services, fire departments, and the police depend on them. So does the military. Chinese, Russian, and Iranian hackers have interfered with GPS tracking of international shipments. The likelihood of your employee taking a break in the middle of the day getting mistaken for a foreign agent are, let’s be for real, very small, but the consequences to that employee and your business could be enormous.
What are the Consequences of GPS Jamming?
Everyone who uses a GPS jammer is breaking the law, but not everyone who uses a GPS jammer is using them to hide otherwise illegal activity. Some businesses use cell phone jammers to create a quiet zone, for example, a movie theater that wants to curtail cell phone usage. But the reason jammers, including GPS jammers, are illegal has to do with safety.
As we mentioned earlier but it bears repeating, GPS and cell phone jammers can interfere with emergency services like 9-1-1, ambulances, firefighters, and police. Furthermore, GPS jamming devices have interfered with airplane navigation.
For example, in 2015, planes landing at Northeast Philadelphia Airport were losing their GPS signal from 1 mile away from the airport. The FCC discovered that a truck driver in a parking lot was using a jammer to disable a tracking device on his truck that he didn’t know was illegal. The FCC agent immediately confiscated the device and destroyed it with a sledgehammer. Luckily for the trucker, the FCC didn’t fine him for using the device, because others haven’t gotten off so easily.
Do Drivers Want to Know How to Jam GPS?
In another aviation incident in Newark, the Federal Aviation Administration filed a complaint with the FCC that something was interfering with the signals from the GPS tracking system at the Newark Liberty International Airport. An FCC investigation discovered that a man named Gary Bojczak was using a GPS jamming device to hide from his employer. The FCC fined the man $31,875.
From the above incidents, it’s evident that some drivers are using GPS jammers to block fleet tracking and other GPS tracking devices, but is it a significant problem? In 2016 NBC News reported that according to a 2012 UK study known as the Sentinel Project, 20 roadside monitors found between 50 and 450 daily instances of jamming across the UK. 9 out of 10 of those jammers were employed by fleet drivers or truckers. A smaller 2014 study by Rohde & Schwarz discovered that every 3rd or 4th truck on a major highway near Portland International Airport in Oregon was broadcasting at the same frequency as GPS, meaning these trucks were potentially blocking GPS tracking.
However, the US trucking association says they have found no evidence to show that large numbers of truck drivers are using GPS jammers, and the Sentinel project found that it was drivers of smaller vehicles like delivery and service vehicles, as well as taxis that were the primary type of employee to use GPS jammers, not truckers. That’s because most truck drivers are well aware of the regulations and penalties they can incur for using a jamming device to manipulate their driving logs or to hide from employers.
How Do I Know an Employee Is Using a GPS Jammer?
The good news is if you have one or more employees who try to use a GPS jammer to disrupt your fleet tracking system, you’ll know. While your drivers might think the illegal jammers make them invisible, what they do instead is to attract more attention to their behavior.
If an employee is using a GPS jammer to disrupt the GPS signal, it will appear on the live tracking map or trip history map as an interrupted or missing trip. If they plug their jammer in during just part of the trip, you’ll see a line from when the jamming started to when the device was turned off. Some later model GPS tracking devices even have GPS jamming detection. Plus you can also create an exception rule that looks for GPS signal faults and triggers an alert or email when GPS interference occurs.
Once you detect an employee has disrupted GPS tracking, you can take appropriate disciplinary measures. You also have a record of the GPS jamming for disciplinary action such as firing the offending employees for cause.
Final Thoughts on GPS Jammers and Employees
Many people don’t realize that they are breaking federal law when they use a GPS jammer. But they do know they are breaking work rules when they use them to hide their locations from your dispatch office during working hours. Employees need to know that the use of these devices can result in more than just the termination of their employment.
(For the tech readers, this youtube video gives the “behind the scenes” of spoofing. It goes beyond the plug-in devices.)
