The year 2025 might do down in trucking history as the year the $#!& well and truly hit the fan. After pro truckers' brief moment in the spotlight as "essential workers" during the pandemic, 2025 saw many of trucking's simmering issues boil over into national news and heated political battles.
In January, the new Trump administration took the nation's helm and, almost unanimously cheered by Overdrive readers, began an immigration and English language crackdown simply unimaginable under previous administrations.
But other issues of importance to owner-operators and drivers didn't go away. Broker transparency is still a live dog in the regulatory process. There's still, as far as we know, a maniac on the loose who attacks truck tires.
Overall, it's been a big year for news in U.S. trucking, especially for owner-operators.
Below, run through Overdrive's top 10 stories of 2025 before we head into 2026, which looks sure to be another corker.
Ice Pick Bandit rampages unchecked
The Ice Pick Bandit, a mysterious skinny guy who goes around puncturing truck tires and cutting brake lines, kicked off 2025 on an absolute tear, puncturing more than 1,000 tires across Tennessee, Georgia, Arkansas and Texas.
Overdrive spoke directly to victims of attacks as well as truck stop owners, many of whom said the attacks were a regular occurrence. While we've flagged this issue to state and federal authorities, nothing has come of it, perhaps because the trail has gone cold since January.
TQL sued over broker transparency
In February, a long running feud between TQL and an owner-operator that's already resulted in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration forcing the mega broker to hand over broker transparency documents, turned into a new lawsuit.
That owner-op sued, asking TQL to drop some of its infamous contract waivers, including the one asking carriers to relinquish their rights to brokered transaction records. While that lawsuit didn't go the owner-op's way, FMCSA later signaled that it's preparing to make moves on "illegal brokering," and that a new broker transparency rulemaking will be part of that effort.
[Related: What's happened to broker transparency]
The Trump English language proficiency mandate
President Donald Trump made his mark on trucking in April with an executive order citing "commonsense" reasons to once again make English language proficiency a non-negotiable rule of the road. Trump ordered FMCSA to make ELP infractions out-of-service violations once again. It was the first salvo of what became a full-on immigration crackdown in trucking.
California refused to comply, and some other states took their time to come around to the new rule, but as of this writing at least 11,000 drivers have now been placed out-of-service for lacking English.
But do those OOS drivers really stay off the road? And with all those drivers supposedly sidelined, where's the rates bump? Every step of the way, Overdrive investigated, finding a mixed bag of answers to both questions.
[Related: Foreign driver exodus clearing parking lots and boosting rates?]
FMCSA revokes 15,000 CDLs, calls out Houston medical examiner
FMCSA called out a Houston chiropractor for "failure to adequately perform U.S. DOT physical qualification examinations of interstate commercial motor vehicle operators" and revoked 15,225 CDLs associated with med cards that office had issued.
At the time, this seemed like a one-off enforcement action, but since then FMCSA has shown it's part of a major change linked to increasing scrutiny of ELDs, CDL schools and medical offices -- all of whom have for years simply "self-certified" that they comply with federal regs.
[Related: FMCSA pins 'CDL mills' problem on self-certification: Owner-ops to blame?]
Overdrive reveals 'Rise of Non-domiciled CDLs' with special report
Embedded in President Trump's April executive order about English proficiency was the directive for FMCSA to audit the issuance of non-domiciled CDLs, but as questions of "labor dumping" and an influx of foreign drivers led to rampant speculation and plenty of arguments, Overdrive didn't wait around for the government.
In July, we released a report detailing the non-domiciled CDL issuance practices of all 50 states, providing for the first time actual hard numbers from many states showing how many CDLs were going to non-citizens. Among the findings: shockingly, Illinois was issuing fully 40% of its CDLs to non-domiciled applicants, and trends were rising in nearly every state.
In total, the report showed evidence of 60,000 such CDLs in 34 states, seven states that don't issue non-domiciled CDLs, and a handful of states that wouldn't even say how many they'd issued, many of which went on to clash with federal authorities on the matter later.
Download the full July report via this link.
[Related: 'Rise of the non-domiciled CDL' for non-citizen truck drivers: Safety, rates, security]
ELD tampering goes mainstream
When Overdrive learned that "ELD editing" companies were cold-calling motor carriers and offering obviously illegal services, we found that the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance and inspectors around the country were fighting a growing tide of ELD cheats.
CVSA said it intended to come up with a new inspection bulletin to assist member jurisdiction in catching cheats, yet inspectors could be missing an easy way to find out if logs are fraudulent, further reporting revealed.
ELD service-provider vetting would go on to become a priority under FMCSA's new administrator, Derek Barrs, who shortly after assuming office announced a major overhaul of the system.
[Related: FMCSA official reveals bolstered vetting of ELD providers on the way]
Harjinder Singh crash kills 3, goes viral
Deadly crashes happen all the time, but on August 12, truck driver Harjinder Singh's flagrantly illegal U-turn attempt on the Florida turnpike almost instantly killed three. It became one of the biggest, most controversial stories of the year.
Singh, a non-domiciled CDL driver and an asylum seeker from India, became an emblem of trucking's immigration problems and a target of the Trump administration's ire. U.S. DOT brass revealed Washington state had issued Singh a full-term CDL, rather than a non-domiciled CDL. DOT said Singh failed an ELP assessment, but New Mexico authorities released bodycam footage of him getting through a Level II inspection in English.
Singh is pictured here during that inspection, screenshot from the New Mexico inspector's bodycam footage.
Singh's fleet was swiftly shut down, signaling a more engaged, attentive FMCSA. Alongside statements from the very top of the DOT, FMCSA issued press release after press release citing issues brought to light by Singh's crash.
Singh never completed that fateful U-turn, but since that day, the entire federal government has made a U-turn on non-citizen drivers.
[Related: Homeland Security explains how 'illegal aliens' get CDLs]
DOT's emergency rulemaking looks to push out 194,000 non-domiciled CDL holders
It's the most aggressive regulatory move by DOT and FMCSA in years: An explicit attempt to tighten CDL requirements for non-citizens and push nearly 200,000 out of driving work. This September rulemaking revealed preliminary stats from the federal audit of non-domiciled CDL issuance, as well as major failings in licensing by the state of California.
The rulemaking also essentially killed the old "driver shortage" narrative, with DOT Secretary Sean Duffy stating multiple times that America didn't need foreign drivers to move its freight.
It also hinged on anecdotes of five deadly crashes caused by non-domiciled CDL holders like Singh.
Non-domiciled CDL holders fight back
Within a month of the emergency rulemaking restricting non-domiciled CDLs, a federal court had blocked the rule, essentially telling states they could resume non-domiciled CDL issuance.
Non-domiciled CDL holders said the rule violated their civil rights, and a lawsuit to that effect stated the rule "explicitly discriminates" based on citizenship status.
The particular lawsuit that stopped the rule came from an owner-operator who had lived in the U.S. since just two years old and who had a complete Motor Vehicle Record to show when applying for a CDL, poking some logical holes in FMCSA's reasoning behind the rule.
Download the text of the owner-operator's filing for an emergency stay of the rule via this link.
Yet despite states getting the green light from courts to issue non-domiciled CDLs, Overdrive reporting found many had not as of November.
Also, direct DOT action blocking five individual states from issuing non-domiciled CDLs further complicated things for non-domiciled drivers, who largely still cannot get their licenses renewed.
[Related: Sikh Coalition sues California to get non-domiciled CDL issuance back]
Overdrive survey reveals support for DOT's crusade against non-citizen CDL drivers
Following the FMCSA's September rulemaking, we surveyed readers and got a massive response. More than 5,000 of you responded with views on the non-domiciled CDL crackdown and its potential rates impact, with fully 88% expressing support for the rule, as illustrated in the survey report issued early this month.
The survey asked respondents to self-identify their citizenship status, offering a glimpse at strong feelings about immigration in trucking. Mostly, U.S. citizens and those not facing the loss of their CDL supported the rule more and had a brighter outlook on rates impacts, but fully 21% of non-domiciled CDL holders supported the rule in some measure, too.
To get Overdrive's December report in full detail, and with more commentary from citizen and non-domiciled CDL drivers, download the full report via the form here:
And finally, to all who responded to any of our surveys, or who read, watched, or listened to Overdrive this year: Thank you.
Here's hoping you had a Merry Christmas, and holidays continue well. Here's a big Happy New Year!
We'll see you on the other side.
[Related: Owner-operators, what's your biz outlook headed into 2026?]
