ATRI Sets 2025 Priorities to Tackle Trucking’s Key Challenges

The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), a trucking industry’s not-for-profit research organization, has announced it is engaged in critical research relating to freight transportation’s essential role in maintaining a safe, secure and efficient transportation system. ATRI outlined the 2025 Top Research Priorities, including the industry’s urgent need for data-driven solutions to rising insurance costs, driver training concerns, safety performance, and cabotage violations.

The 2025 research agenda focuses on five critical areas:

1. Rising Insurance Costs and Self-Insurance Strategies

With commercial auto insurance premiums escalating, ATRI’s new study will examine current trends and the increasing use of insurance captives and self-insurance retentions. Building on prior findings that revealed cost-related shifts in coverage and safety technology investments, this research aims to provide motor carriers with actionable insights to manage financial risk more effectively.

2. Effectiveness of Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT)

Following the FMCSA’s 2022 ELDT mandate, which introduced structured instruction for CDL candidates, ATRI seeks to assess its real-world impact on highway safety. While the training program was designed to enhance driver preparedness, skepticism remains regarding its effectiveness. The new study will incorporate expanded datasets and statistical modeling to quantify the program’s safety outcomes.

3. Safety Impacts of In-Cab Monitoring Systems

As fleets increasingly adopt in-cab technologies to monitor driver behavior, ATRI will investigate the correlation between these systems, such as driver-facing cameras, and safety improvements. The research will also explore best practices in data management and driver engagement that contribute to safer operations.

4. Optimizing Telematics for Fleet Performance

Though telematics systems have long been used in trucking, their full potential remains untapped. ATRI will compile a practical guide outlining tools and applications that help fleets, regardless of size to leverage telematics data for enhanced safety, compliance, maintenance, and overall performance.

5. Cabotage Violations and Their Economic Impact

Violations of cabotage laws, especially involving non-domiciled carriers performing domestic freight movements within the United States, are under increasing scrutiny. ATRI will quantify the scale and impact of these violations, which undermine fair competition and threaten US trucking jobs. The study aligns closely with ongoing industry concerns regarding enforcement under the USMCA framework.

ATA Underscores the Need for Stronger Enforcement and Training Integrity

With these as ongoing concerns, on April 10, Chris Spear, President and CEO, American Trucking Associations (ATA), reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to improving safety and addressing systemic regulatory challenges. Spear emphasized ATA’s support for the ELDT framework but raised concerns over the integrity of the Training Provider Registry (TPR), citing the persistence of non-compliant training entities. “FMCSA’s safety monitoring and enforcement must be bolstered to eliminate fraudulent CDL training providers,” Spear stated, urging swift action to protect public safety and the credibility of the industry.

ATA also called for:

• Immediate review of enforcement related to English language proficiency standards

• Closer collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement to curb misuse of B-1 visas by foreign drivers engaging in illegal cabotage

• Enhanced data collection and state-level tracking of CDL issuance, particularly for non-domiciled drivers

These calls to action gained momentum following President Donald Trump’s recent executive order, “Enforcing Commonsense Rules of the Road for America’s Truck Drivers,” which reinstates and strengthens federal English language proficiency mandates for commercial drivers, citing both safety and national security concerns, as previously reported by MBN.

Illegal Cabotage: A Growing Threat

The issue of cabotage, unauthorized point-to-point transport within the United States by foreign drivers, has become particularly acute with misuse of B-1 visas. Freight Waves has reported the trend of US companies establishing shell operations in Mexico to hire B-1 visa holders for domestic hauls inside the United States, undercutting wages and violating federal law.

According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), cabotage is only permissible when goods are part of the international stream of commerce. A B-1 visa driver may legally transport goods from Mexico to the United States and return, but it becomes illegal when that driver picks up a new load and continues movement entirely within the United States. This practice, while profitable for some operators, poses serious legal and economic risks, creating an uneven playing field for compliant US carriers and raising concerns about safety oversight and national security.