New Hampshire Attorney General John M. Formella announced that the state’s Department of Justice is partnering with the National Traffic Law Center, the New Hampshire Department of Safety, and other traffic safety partners on the initiative, which is intended to improve highway safety.

Program Focuses on CDL Conviction Reporting

The state is participating in a $7.9 million pilot project funded by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).

According to the attorney general’s office, the program is intended to increase awareness of federal and state prohibitions against masking commercial driver convictions, improve the accuracy of commercial driver conviction reporting, and help ensure disqualified commercial drivers are removed from the nation’s roadways.

Statewide Working Group to Lead the Initiative

As part of the program, the New Hampshire Department of Justice will lead a statewide working group made up of representatives from agencies involved in investigating, prosecuting, adjudicating, licensing, and tracking commercial driver offenses.

The group will focus on:

• Providing education and training for prosecutors, law enforcement officers, judges, clerks, and traffic safety professionals on federal and state CDL requirements, including anti-masking laws.
• Improving statewide compliance with federal reporting requirements.
• Developing a state implementation plan to ensure the accurate and timely transfer of information from roadside enforcement through the conviction reporting process.

Attorney General Highlights Highway Safety

Formella said the partnership is intended to strengthen coordination among prosecutors, law enforcement, the courts, and state and federal partners responsible for enforcing commercial driver’s license laws.

“Traffic safety is public safety,” Formella said. “This partnership will strengthen coordination among prosecutors, law enforcement, the courts, and our state and federal partners to ensure that commercial driver’s license laws are enforced consistently and accurately.”

The TDUSA editorial team creates practical, driver-focused content covering trucking news, industry updates, safety, regulations, and career information for professional truck drivers across the United States. Each article is built to reflect real-world experience, industry developments, and information drivers can use on and off the road.

Last Updated: July 17, 2026

Source: Truckers News

The post New Hampshire Selected for FMCSA Pilot Program to Strengthen CDL Enforcement appeared first on Truck Drivers USA.

The American Trucking Associations (ATA) reported that its seasonally adjusted For Hire Truck Tonnage Index fell 0.9% in September to 114.2, down from 115.3 in August. While that drop erased gains from earlier in the summer, tonnage is still 0.8% higher than September 2024, showing slow but steady improvement over the past year.

ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said the data highlights just how uneven freight conditions remain.
“Tonnage levels remain choppy, but they are up 2.1% since hitting a low in January. Compared to the high three years earlier, however, truck tonnage is still off by 3.9%. In fact, September’s tonnage level was essentially the same as in September 2023, underscoring the tough freight market over the last few years,” Costello said.

Market Signals Are Shifting

Even though tonnage slipped, other signs suggest the market could be turning. FTR’s Trucking Conditions Index (TCI) rose to a nearly neutral 0.3 in August after sitting at -1.03 in July. The TCI measures key factors like freight volume, rates, capacity, fuel prices, and financing costs to gauge the overall health of the market.

FTR said the latest gain came “primarily due to less challenging freight rates,” noting that while utilization improved slightly, it was not a major driver of the index change.

Looking ahead, FTR projects better conditions in 2026 and 2027, even though near-term readings will likely stay close to current levels.

Capacity Tightening Could Lead to Recovery

One of the biggest potential drivers of market recovery may come from tightening capacity. Avery Vise, vice president of trucking at FTR, said restrictions on issuing and renewing commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) for foreign drivers could impact fleet capacity.

“The potential for a capacity-driven recovery in trucking has risen over the past month due to severe restrictions imposed on issuing and renewing commercial driver’s licenses for foreign drivers,” Vise said. “However, despite some anecdotal reports about various effects of a crackdown on immigrant drivers, available data has yet to show a substantial impact on market conditions.”

Vise previously noted that the FMCSA’s non-domiciled CDL rule could push roughly 194,000 CDL holders out of the market over two years, a shift that might recreate the tight utilization levels seen in 2021.
“This would be very good for carriers, not very good for shippers,” he added.

Vise also pointed out that stepped-up enforcement from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement could add even more pressure on capacity, though the full impact is still unclear.

“We expect pressure on foreign drivers to be a significant factor for capacity in the coming months, but many questions remain about the scope and speed of the tighter CDL and English language enforcement on the truck freight market,” he said.

Equipment and Driver Supply Getting Tighter

Tim Denoyer, vice president and senior analyst at ACT Research, said the driver market is no longer oversupplied but not yet tight. According to ACT’s Driver Availability Index, a reading below 40 typically precedes rate increases, and the index is approaching that threshold again.

“The new rules on non-domiciled drivers could tighten driver capacity over the next one to two years, but heavy truck tariff costs are starting to constrain equipment capacity,” Denoyer said.

Class 8 production data backs that up. Denoyer noted that tractor builds are expected to fall roughly 35% in the second half of the year, dropping several thousand units per month below what fleets need to maintain size.

ACT Research believes that reduced capacity combined with steady freight demand could speed up the next market cycle and lead to new for-hire opportunities.
However, Denoyer cautioned, this recovery will not happen overnight. “This transformation will take time,” he said.

For drivers and carriers who have weathered the slow freight cycle, these tightening conditions may signal that a long-awaited rebound is finally taking shape, one load at a time.

Image Source: Commercial Carrier Journal, ATA

Source: Commercial Carrier Journal

The post Signs of a Trucking Market Turnaround as Capacity Tightens appeared first on Truck Drivers USA.

Dedicated to Trucking Compliance

“The Indiana State Police Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division remains committed to ensuring commercial vehicles remain compliant with applicable laws and regulations,” emphasized Sgt. Dale Turner. “Focused efforts like this raise both awareness and voluntary compliance with those laws and regulations.”

Troopers stationed at the Lowell, Bremen, and Ft. Wayne posts supported this campaign. The CVED, which primarily monitors trucks exceeding 10,000 pounds, enforces both state and federal laws specific to large commercial vehicles. Notably, the Lowell post conducted a similar enforcement operation in 2024, continuing the division’s dedication to highway safety.

Operation Focus Areas

The enforcement initiative targeted 10 key crash causation factors often associated with commercial vehicles, including but not limited to:

• 392.2FC: Following too closely

• 392.2C: Disobeying traffic control devices

• 392.2LC: Unsafe lane changes

• 392.2S: Speeding or driving too fast for conditions

• 392.2Y: Failing to yield right of way

• 392.3: Operating while ill or fatigued

• 392.16: Not wearing a seatbelt

• 392-71A: Driving with a radar detector in a commercial vehicle

• 392.80: Texting while operating a commercial vehicle

• 392.82: Using a hand-held cell phone while driving

Noteworthy Results

Over the course of the enforcement effort, officials documented 126 truck violations. Specific figures include:

• 47 speeding violations, divided into 15 citations and 32 warnings.

• 7 seatbelt violations.

• 43 Other violations.

• 29 Level 3 truck inspections focusing on driver-specific compliance checks.

• 10 Level 2 inspections included checks on drivers and vehicle mechanical conditions.

• 3 Level 1 comprehensive inspections, involving thorough driver, documentation, and vehicle checks.
• 126 total truck violations were noted during those inspections.

Indiana State Police’s Ongoing Efforts

Through focused operations like this, Indiana’s law enforcement works to improve road safety by reducing crashes involving commercial vehicles. To stay informed or learn more about the mission of the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division, visit Indiana State Police CVED.

Source: The Trucker

The post Indiana Traffic Operation Uncovers 126 Trucking Violations appeared first on Truck Drivers USA.