Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy debuted a registration system for the trucking industry aimed at combating fraud.
The Trump administration has taken aim at fraud in the trucking industry, with Duffy sending the issue to the top of his priority list. On Tuesday, Duffy and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Administrator Derek Barrs announced the rollout of the new registration system, called Motus, which aims to streamline the registration process. A press release from the Department of Transportation said Motus replaces “a decades-old network of loosely connected applications rife with fraud, waste, and abuse.”
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“Dangerous foreign drivers and the shell companies who employ them have been taking advantage of this lax, decrepit federal registration system for years. The lack of accountability is disturbing, and it’s killed American families on our roads,” Duffy said in a statement.
The new system will stop fraud, “strengthen oversight on shady carriers,” and improve life for “honest drivers who follow the rules.”
Duffy said the new system will “improve customer service, enhance reliability, and cut down on red tape. Today marks another important milestone in our crusade to make America’s roads safer, and it reflects the Trump Administration’s commitment to cracking down on fraud wherever it hides.”
The previous registration system was overseen by a legacy IT system, and data were spread across five or six applications. The previous system created “rampant data sprawl, critical information silos, and systemic blind spots,” according to the DOT. This allowed companies with shoddy records to reinvent themselves and easily bypass safeguards to get their trucks back on the road.
Motus, by contrast, operates through a single digital dashboard and boasts better identity verification processes.
“By integrating mandatory identity verification protocols (utilizing government-issued IDs and digital facial scans) alongside robust third-party business validation, Motus effectively suffocates fraud at the point of registration,” the DOT said.
Duffy’s focus on trucking fraud increased in February, following a crash featuring an illegal Kyrgyz immigrant that left four Amish people dead.
Duffy and the Trump administration have linked the issues of illegal immigration and trucking fraud, sending the issue higher on its priority list.
