Trucking industry risks of 2022: which grew and which faded
The bottom half of 2022's top 10 looked minor next to record diesel. Four years later, two of those five sit in the top three, one rule never arrived, and two driver issues faded without being fixed.
Written by Rigo Diaz
The lower half of the 2022 list
The trucking industry risks ranked sixth to 10th in ATRI's 2022 survey were detention at customer facilities, driver retention, CSA, speed limiters, and lawsuit abuse reform. By 2026, lawsuit abuse ranked second and CSA third, the speed limiter proposal had been withdrawn, and detention had left the top 10.
This is part 2 of our look back at the American Transportation Research Institute's (ATRI) 2022 Top Industry Issues survey. Part 1 covers the top five, led by fuel prices, and how the survey works. This part covers the issues ranked sixth through 10th.
I spent more than six years in risk management before I founded Simplex, and I have led it for more than 25 years since. I read the bottom of these lists closely, because that is where the next safety-record and insurance problems usually start.
The full briefing, read aloud
7 chapters. Select one to jump to it.
Generated with AI text-to-speech from this article's key insights, in order, rather than reading it word for word. Chapter times come from a transcript of the audio. The article itself was written and reviewed by Rigo Diaz.
Key takeaways
Lawsuits went from 10th to second
Lawsuit abuse reform ranked 10th in 2022 and second in 2025 and 2026. Motor carriers now rank it their No. 1 concern.
CSA climbed to third
FMCSA dropped the IRT scoring model recommended in 2017 and approved a revised method that is not live yet. A May 2026 Supreme Court ruling then put CSA scores in front of brokers.
The speed limiter rule was withdrawn
FMCSA's 2022 notice put speed limiters on the list for the first time. On July 24, 2025, FMCSA and NHTSA withdrew the proposal. No federal rule requires a limiter.
Detention left the list, not the dock
Detention ranked sixth in 2022 and has been out of the top 10 since 2025. Drivers still rank it seventh among their own concerns.
Dwell time drives turnover
Driver retention returned at 10th in 2026. ATRI links each extra 30 minutes of dwell time per stop to a turnover rate 5.4 points higher.
In this articleContents
What were the trucking industry risks ranked sixth to 10th in 2022?
They were detention and delay at customer facilities, driver retention, CSA, speed limiters, and lawsuit abuse reform, in that order, in ATRI's 2022 Critical Issues report. More than 4,200 people each ranked three issues from a list of 28. Our recap of the top trucking industry concerns of 2022 covers the top five.
| 2022 rank (ICI) | Issue | Where it stands in 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| 6 (53.8) | Detention and delay at customer facilities | Out of the top 10 since 2025; drivers rank it 7th |
| 7 (48.6) | Driver retention | 10th; motor carriers rank it 6th |
| 8 (45.8) | CSA (Compliance, Safety, Accountability) | 3rd, its highest rank since 2015 |
| 9 (39.3) | Speed limiters | Proposal withdrawn in 2025; not in the top 10 since 2022 |
| 10 (35.4) | Lawsuit abuse reform | 2nd for a second year; motor carriers rank it 1st |
Who answered shaped the order. Drivers ranked detention fourth and speed limiters fifth among their own concerns, and company drivers put detention third. Motor carriers ranked CSA fourth, lawsuit abuse reform sixth, and detention ninth.
The five split three ways. Two driver workday issues faded from the overall list, one proposed rule never arrived, and the two issues about a carrier's record now sit near the top.
Why did detention and driver retention rank sixth and seventh?
Because hours lost at a dock cost drivers pay, and drivers who lose pay leave. ATRI ranks the two separately, but its own research keeps tying them together.
Detention and delay (No. 6)
2022 was detention's fourth straight year in the top 10, up one spot. ATRI described drivers losing paid hours while they waited, going without water or restrooms, and being told to leave a facility to find parking somewhere else.
ATRI cited a 2018 U.S. DOT Inspector General report that estimated each 15-minute increase in average dwell time raises the expected crash rate by 6.2%, and that detention cuts truckload drivers' annual earnings by $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion. Half of respondents (50.3%) wanted research on practices that cut detention, 19.5% wanted more research on its safety effects, and 18.6% wanted to measure whether driver ratings of shippers change their behavior.
Federal research has moved slowly. FMCSA's detention study, sent for approval in February 2024, is designed to collect data from about 80 carriers and 2,500 drivers. A proposed Split Duty Period pilot would let about 256 drivers pause the 14-hour window once for 30 minutes to 3 hours, including detention at a pickup or delivery. Detention ranked ninth in 2023 and eighth in 2024, then left the top 10.
Driver retention (No. 7)
Retention fell from second in 2021 to seventh. ATRI's 2022 cost research found retention bonuses up 57% over four years, against 26% for starting bonuses. The top fix (46.6%) was research built on driver feedback and tenure data; 31.4% wanted to measure what health and retirement benefits do for retention.
It ranked eighth in 2023, dropped out for two years, and returned at 10th in 2026. ATRI's 2026 report links it back to detention: each extra 30 minutes of average dwell time per stop was associated with a turnover rate 5.4 percentage points higher, and each extra $5,000 in average yearly pay with a rate 2.9 points lower. Our driver retention strategies guide turns that into a plan.
Why did CSA rank eighth in 2022, and third in 2026?
In 2022 the complaint was a scoring method that hadn't changed. In 2026 it is who reads the score. CSA has made ATRI's top 10 in 16 of the 17 years since 2010.
A 2017 National Academies review, required by Congress, recommended a new statistical model for CSA, known as Item Response Theory (IRT). Five years later FMCSA had not adopted it, and 40.3% of 2022 respondents chose a more accurate, transparent prioritization method as the top fix. Another 29.0% wanted FMCSA to keep reviewing which crash types it can rule not preventable, then 16 types, and 14.5% wanted faster reviews of those requests.
What FMCSA changed
In February 2023, FMCSA concluded that an IRT model does not perform well for choosing carriers for intervention and proposed revising its Safety Measurement System (SMS) instead. It approved the changes in November 2024: BASICs become "compliance categories," more than 2,000 violation codes fold into about 100 violation groups, and severity weights drop to 1 or 2. As of October 2026 the new method is not in effect; FMCSA lets carriers preview their results and says to keep using the current SMS.
The crash list grew. Since December 1, 2024, FMCSA's Crash Preventability Determination Program reviews 21 crash types, including any crash where video shows the sequence of events. Crashes found not preventable stay listed but leave the Crash Indicator BASIC calculation.
Why CSA climbed
CSA missed the top 10 in 2023, then ranked seventh in 2024, sixth in 2025, and third in 2026, its highest since 2015. ATRI credits the Supreme Court's May 14, 2026 ruling in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport: brokers now need documented evidence that they hired safe carriers, and CSA scores are one such record. Our post on the Supreme Court's broker liability ruling explains the case, and our CSA program page explains how the current system scores you.
What happened to the speed limiter rule?
It was withdrawn. On July 24, 2025, FMCSA and NHTSA withdrew both their 2016 joint proposal and FMCSA's 2022 follow-up notice. As of October 2026, no federal rule requires a speed limiter on a truck.
Why speed limiters made the 2022 list
On May 4, 2022, FMCSA published a notice of intent to propose that interstate carriers running vehicles of 26,001 pounds or more, with an engine control unit able to govern speed, set a maximum speed and keep it for the vehicle's service life. The speed itself was left to the rulemaking. ATRI counted more than 14,500 comments, and speed limiters reached its top 10 for the first time.
Drivers drove the ranking: more than one in five driver respondents named it, and drivers ranked it fifth. The top fix (40.8%) was to measure the safety effect of speed differences between cars and trucks. Another 32.2% wanted any rule based on new real-world data, because the last field study dated to 2012. ATRI noted that study found limiters cut a small number of high-severity crashes by 50%, alongside a trend, not quite statistically significant, toward more low-severity crashes in governed fleets.
Why the proposal was withdrawn
The agencies cited significant policy and safety concerns and continued data gaps that left the costs and benefits uncertain. The issue has not returned to ATRI's overall top 10, though in ATRI's 2023 survey drivers still ranked it fourth and owner-operators second.
Speed still lands on your record. A governed speed is now a fleet policy choice, but speeding violations still count in the Unsafe Driving BASIC, and a conviction for 15 mph or more over the limit is a serious traffic violation under 49 CFR 383.51; two in three years disqualify a CDL holder for 60 days.
Why did lawsuit abuse reform climb from 10th to second?
Because verdicts kept growing, and they flow into premiums. In 2022, lawsuit abuse reform, once called tort reform, made the top 10 for a third year but fell six spots to 10th. Motor carriers ranked it sixth and insurance cost seventh among their own concerns.
The 2022 fixes were to end "phantom" medical damages, the gap between billed and actually paid medical costs (35.2%); to let carriers move more crash cases to federal court (31.5%); and to fight staged accidents (21.4%). ATRI pointed to a federal case in New Orleans in which more than 30 people had been convicted for staging crashes with trucks.
What came of those fixes
- Phantom damages: passed in some states. Florida's 2023 law limits evidence of past medical bills that were paid to the amount actually paid, and ATRI counts Georgia among the states that also acted.
- Federal court: still a bill. The FAIR Trucking Act, introduced in 2025, would give federal courts truck crash cases that meet thresholds including damages above $5 million.
- Staged accidents: still a bill. The Staged Accident Fraud Prevention Act would make staging a crash with a commercial vehicle a federal crime, with up to 20 years in prison.
The issue ranked sixth in 2023, third in 2024, and second in 2025 and 2026, when motor carriers ranked it first. ATRI's 2026 report says non-economic and punitive damages made up 84% of nuclear verdict awards on average, and 60.7% of respondents now want state caps on them. Our recap of 2021's trucking concerns covers the state reforms in more detail.
What should a carrier do about these five risks now?
Treat them as one file: the record that shows how you run. Brokers read it after Montgomery, underwriters read it at renewal, and a jury may read it after a crash. Five habits cover most of it:
- Put detention in writing. Agree on free time and the detention rate in the rate confirmation, and keep arrival and departure times from your ELD as proof.
- Track dwell time as a retention number. Know the hours lost per stop by customer, and pass detention pay on to the driver who waited.
- Check your CSA data every month. Preview how the approved SMS changes will score you, and file a Request for Data Review through DataQs for any crash that fits one of the 21 eligible types.
- Set a speed policy. No federal rule requires a limiter, so decide your governed speed and write down how you coach drivers who exceed it.
- Keep litigation-ready records. Driver qualification files, maintenance records, and video are what your defense counsel and your insurance broker will ask for.
How Simplex helps with the risks on this list
Lawsuit exposure, CSA scores, and the records behind both now sit near the top of the list. We help with all three.
CSA data you watch
Our CSA program team monitors your CSA data and helps fix the programs behind it, before a broker or underwriter sees it.
Coverage quoted by a broker
As a broker, we quote and place commercial auto liability and the rest of your truck insurance, with your record in front of the underwriter.
Files ready before you need them
Our driver qualification file service keeps each driver's records complete and current.
Frequently asked questions
What were trucking concerns 6 to 10 in ATRI's 2022 survey?+
Is there a federal speed limiter requirement for trucks?+
How are nuclear verdicts affecting the trucking industry?+
What are phantom damages in a truck crash lawsuit?+
Does detention time make trucking less safe?+
Where this information comes from
The rankings, survey details, and rule history below come from ATRI's annual reports, the Federal Register, FMCSA, the U.S. DOT Inspector General, and the Florida Statutes, checked on October 20, 2026.
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1
ATRI — Critical Issues in the Trucking Industry 2022
The 2022 ranks and ICI scores for issues 6 to 10, the preferred fixes, and the driver and carrier rankings.
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2
ATRI — Critical Issues in the Trucking Industry 2026
The 2026 ranks, rank history since 2017, lawsuit and CSA developments, and the dwell-time and pay links to turnover.
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3
Federal Register — Speed Limiting Devices, May 4, 2022 (87 FR 26317)
FMCSA's 2022 notice of intent: vehicles of 26,001 pounds or more with a speed-capable engine control unit.
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4
Federal Register — Speed Limiting Devices; Withdrawal, July 24, 2025 (90 FR 34822)
Withdrawal of the 2016 joint proposal and the 2022 notice, and the reasons given.
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5
FMCSA — CSA Prioritization Preview
The approved SMS changes, the preview login, and the instruction to keep using the current SMS.
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6
FMCSA — Crash Preventability Determination Program
The 21 eligible crash types since December 1, 2024, and how not preventable crashes are treated.
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7
U.S. DOT Office of Inspector General — Driver Detention Report (2018)
The 6.2% crash-rate estimate per 15 minutes of dwell time and the lost-earnings estimate.
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8
Florida Statutes — Section 768.0427
Evidence of paid past medical expenses limited to the amount actually paid (2023).
Written by
Rigo Diaz
Founder & CEO, Simplex Group
Founder and CEO of Simplex Group, with more than 25 years leading the company and helping trucking entrepreneurs navigate compliance, insurance, and the day-to-day demands of running a carrier. Before founding Simplex, he spent more than six years in risk management, experience that continues to shape how he approaches insurance, compliance, and carrier risk today.
Published · Updated
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The bottom of the list became the bill
In 2022, CSA and lawsuit abuse ranked eighth and 10th. Four years later they rank third and second, and the part of both you control is a clean, documented record.
If you want help with your CSA data, your liability coverage, or the driver and maintenance files behind both, talk to our team.