Cheaper isn’t safer, OOIDA’s Pugh says

For years, large carriers claimed that there was a shortage of truck drivers. In reality, they were just looking for more drivers willing to take the bottom dollar.

Of course, the truckers willing to do that weren’t the safest and most experienced. They were drivers who were new to the industry and often not even well trained.

During the Broker Carrier Summit on April 28 in Overland Park, Kan., OOIDA Executive Vice President Lewie Pugh said that this race to the bottom has been a detriment to safety. Instead, Pugh said that the industry needs to start rewarding the companies that are safe and reliable.

“What I think the problem is and what people need to remember is that for all these years, it hasn’t been about how good you are or how dedicated you are or how you went the extra mile,” Pugh said. “It’s been about who’s the cheapest. ‘We don’t care how good you are, but who can move this load from Point A to Point B for the cheapest amount of money?’ It just continues to get cheaper and cheaper, and we end up with bad people doing bad things. We end up with inexperienced people moving freight and having accidents … Freight getting damaged, cargo getting damaged and all these other things.”

“We need to remind shippers and brokers and everyone out there that it shouldn’t always be about the cheapest, it should be about who can do the best job.”

Even though brokers and carriers often find themselves at odds over issues such as broker transparency, Pugh’s comments drew applause from both sides of the aisle.

“You just got a room full of carriers and brokers to clap at the same comment,” said Dan Lindsey, who was moderating a panel with Pugh and TIA President Chris Burroughs.

Lindsey started the Broker Carrier Summit in 2023, with the hope that brokers and motor carriers could resolve many of their differences through better communication.

Pugh and Burroughs used much of their time focusing on common ground.

While there are topics where OOIDA and TIA remain miles apart, the two groups can unite in efforts to combat cargo theft and raise the barrier to entry for motor carriers and brokers.

“Freight fraud has really brought us, TIA and ATA together because we’re all getting hurt in this,” Pugh said. “Everybody here is getting hurt by it in some form or fashion.”

All three groups have shown support for the Household Goods Shipping Consumer Act, which would restore the FMCSA’s authority to impose civil penalties on bad actors.

“If you go on social media … you would think there’s just visceral hate between brokers and carriers,” Burroughs said. “But there’s a lot of good partnerships out there between brokers and carriers. Can we communicate better? Absolutely.”

One way that brokers and carriers rallied together during the summit was through a fundraiser for Dalilah Coleman, who was 5 years old when she was severely injured in a crash involving a tractor-trailer driven by Partap Singh, who was later arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The crash led President Donald Trump to ask Congress to pass a bill to prevent future incidents.

“Politics aside, we see someone selflessly sacrificing to make this industry better,” the Broker Carrier Summit account wrote on its LinkedIn page. “We want to give back to them directly. We’ve decided to turn our loaded and rolling party at BCS Kansas City into a benefit for the Coleman family.”

New registration system

One of the main conversations during the summit centered on FMCSA’s new registration system, called Motus.

As of press time in early May, the agency was moving forward with the second phase of the rollout and required motor carriers to take the necessary steps by May 14.

Additionally, FMCSA published a notice in the Federal Register on April 29.

FMCSA has been rolling Motus out in phases. The first phase was released in December 2025.

“In Phase II, planned for the second quarter of 2026, Motus will become available to all regulated entities,” the agency wrote in the notice. “The system will satisfy the statutory mandate for a unified registration system, and FMCSA will sunset the current URS used for new applications for USDOT Numbers and Operating Authority, registration components of the Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS) and the former Interstate Commerce Commission Licensing and Insurance system, established in 1994.”

The goal of Motus is to “streamline processes, enhance fraud prevention and provide a more intuitive, user-friendly experience for supporting companies, motor carriers, brokers and other registrants.”

FMCSA has created a resource hub to prepare stakeholders for the launch of Motus. The hub includes a list of Frequently Asked Questions and a fact sheet. LL