I’ve encountered numerous professional truck drivers who believe they don’t have any say in how federal regulations are made and enforced. “I’m just one truck driver,” they say. “Between the huge trucking companies, associations and government bureaucracy, how can I expect anyone to listen to me? I just don’t have a say.”
Don’t you believe it. Your voice CAN make a difference.
Understand how federal agencies work
An understanding of how federal agencies like the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) work is an important step in understanding how your voice can make a difference.
There are large agencies such as the Department of Defense and Department of Transportation, but there are many much smaller agencies you may not have heard of, such as the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the National Ice Center (NIC). NOTE: That last one deals with real ice, such as glaciers and polar icecaps, and isn’t the same as the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) so often in the news.
Each agency is endowed by Congress with the authority and funding to regulate specific areas of government. The idea is to allow Congress to focus on governing the country instead of getting bogged down with decisions about traffic laws or driver qualifications.
It seems like another rule is announced daily from some branch of the government. After all, there are 441 branches listed in the Federal Register, the official record of governmental doings. The website is actually noted as “The Daily Journal of the United States Government.”
Learn about the process.
Government agencies are required to follow a process to issue new regulations or change current ones. An explanation of the process is available at congress.gov/crs_external_products/IF/PDF/IF10003/IF10003.5.pdf.
Here’s an example:
The FMCSA drafts a proposed rule and then runs it through the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), a part of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Once approved, the agency publishes a proposed rule in the Federal Register.
That’s where you come in.
In most cases, the law calls for a period for public review of the new rule and public comments. Those comments become a permanent part of the agency’s record and are sometimes later cited in court cases or legislative activity. ANYONE can comment, and comments are often received from everyday citizens, truck drivers and other interested parties.
You don’t have to represent a big corporation or organization to have your voice heard.
Once the time for public comment is up, the agency can decide whether to change the proposed rule or not, based on the input received. The proposed rule then goes back to the OIRA for a review of the final draft; after that, the agency publishes a Final Rule along with a date the rule goes into effect.
But it’s not over yet.
The courts can get involved if someone files a request for an injunction, and Congress can decide to circumvent the process, either by passing a law or by denying funding for the new regulation.
Familiarize yourself with the Federal Register.
As mentioned earlier, proposed rules, final rules and more are published in the Federal Register, the nation’s bulletin board for agency action. You can review the Federal Register at federalregister.gov.
You can search for information, past and present, about any topic of interest. You can also sign up for a subscription to the Register by clicking on “My FR” and then “My Subscriptions.” You’ll receive an email every business day on every proposal or action by any of the government agencies, listed in alphabetical order. It only takes a few seconds to scroll through the notices and identify the ones you’re interested in.
You can find instructions for how to navigate and subscribe at federalregister.gov/reader-aids/using-federalregister-gov/subscription-options-and-managing-your-subscriptions.
When comments are requested on a proposed rulemaking, submission instructions are provided. You can email your comments, call in and record them, write them down and mail them or deliver them personally.
Best of all, you’ll later be able to read your comments and most of the others that are submitted for that proposal on the Federal Register website. Occasionally, a comment isn’t made available to the public for reasons like national security or if publishing could put the commenter in danger.
Watch for surveys, polls and other opportunities.
Other opportunities for your input exist, too, such as the current American Transportation Research Institute’s (ATRI) 2026 Top Industry Issues Survey.
The ATRI survey is another way to participate in the process that determines new rules and other industry actions. Any trucking industry stakeholder can participate, from the largest carriers to individual drivers and owner-operators.
Survey results help determine which topics will be researched further by the ATRI team, and they’re often quoted by lawmakers and government officials in support of projects. ATRI funding decisions often incorporate survey results.
A recent example is the topic of truck parking, which has been a topic of study multiple times at ATRI. Those efforts have helped result in the current truck parking wins in Washington, D.C. The government is spending millions of dollars to increase truck parking, in part due to research results at ATRI.
Responses to the current survey will be accepted through Oct. 18, 2026.
Click here to take part in the survey. You’ll be asked to check a box with your role in the industry.
This is important, because ATRI often presents differing views of an issue based on the survey participant’s role. For example, a large motor carrier may have a viewpoint that’s markedly different from that of a truck driver, industry vendors and others. Safety advocates or organizations that deal with trucking may have yet another point of view.
Your chance to be heard doesn’t stop there.
There are other ways to share your views on trucking or other issues you find important.
You always have the option of writing or calling your elected representatives — but unless legislation is currently being considered or that representative has a particular interest in the topic, not much can happen.
Social media provides many opportunities to enter your comments on any issue online, but the source of the information may be compromised or even false. Depending on the topic, comments may go “viral,” or may not be read by many at all.
There are industry organizations such as the Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) that may amplify your position on the issues.
Truck drivers often grumble about policies and regulations they don’t like, but there are opportunities to influence how those policies are made. Let your voice be heard.
Cliff Abbott is an experienced commercial vehicle driver and owner-operator who still holds a CDL in his home state of Alabama. In nearly 40 years in trucking, he’s been an instructor and trainer and has managed safety and recruiting operations for several carriers. Having never lost his love of the road, Cliff has written a book and hundreds of songs and has been writing for The Trucker for more than a decade.
