FMCSA Administrator Barrs says chameleon carrier crackdown may be “more than we can chew” but agency will “keep chewing”

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Administrator Derek Barrs says that the agency’s crackdown on chameleon carriers will not stop despite a backlog of safety audits possibly being “more than we can chew.” 

In late February, Indiana Senator Jim Banks called on federal authorities to investigate fraudulent trucking companies often called ‘chameleon carriers,’ that reopen under new names after a fatal crash shut the first company down. The call came after several serious wrecks in the state involving truck drivers that were not US citizens. In addition to the push from Banks, an in-depth investigation by multiple journalists brought the issue to the forefront of public thought. Now, the FMCSA says that this crackdown is a top priority for the agency. 

“It’s a lot of things we’re working on right now,” Barrs said during a brief interview with WTSP News. “The chameleon carrier piece is something we’re working hard on right now.”

Currently, the federal registration system for carriers relies strongly on self-reported information and limited data, which may contribute to delay any oversight that could flag unsafe practices by the chameleon carriers. 

“We have the right people. We have employees. We have 340-ish investigators. We rely a lot on our state partners to do this,” Barrs said in response to a question about safety audit backlogs. 

“We can always work. We are going to continue to do more…We are going to bite off more than we can chew, but we will keep chewing.”

“We’re going to continue to go after bad actors and our message is to be clear — whether it’s entry-level training, carriers not doing the right things — we’re going to go after them,” he continued.

In recent months, Representatives have filed the Safety and Accountability in Freight Enforcement Act, which directs federal regulators to study the prevalence of chameleon carriers and develop technology to stop them.