Trucking Increasingly Weary Over Lawsuit Abuse and Insurance
Economy Ranks as Top Concern for Third Straight Year
Key Takeaways:
- The American Transportation Research Institute’s 2025 report ranked the economy as the trucking industry’s top concern for the third consecutive year, followed by lawsuit abuse reform and insurance availability.
- The findings reflect ongoing freight recession pressures, record-high operating costs and renewed tariff uncertainty under President Donald Trump’s trade strategy.
- New issues entering the top 10 include diesel emissions regulations, English-language proficiency, driver training standards and artificial intelligence in trucking.
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A turbulent economic outlook continues to top the list of trucking industry concerns in 2025, with lawsuit abuse and insurance availability trending up, according to the .
The 2025 ATRI Top Industry Issues report, released Oct. 26, found that the economy was the top concern among industry stakeholders for the third year in a row. Lawsuit abuse reform and insurance availability each rose one spot to second and third, and four new issues debuted among the top 10 concerns.
“We’re in the third year of this extended freight recession and the pain is real,” A&M Transport President Andy Owens said. “Operating costs climbed to their highest ever at the same time that freight pricing has bottomed out. ATRI’s annual analysis is so critical for our industry to not only quantify the issues, but more importantly, to understand what we can collectively do as an industry to address each.”
The economy earned an index rating of 100. The report highlighted how the industry already had endured two years of reduced freight demand and rates when tariffs became an issue again. President Donald Trump has pursued them as a cornerstone of his trade strategy, and increased costs and uncertainty have burdened an already strained freight industry.
(Transport Topics via American Transportation Research Institute)
Lawsuit abuse reform came in second at 71.6, with insurance cost and availability following at 69. Lawsuit abuse reform has now reached its highest ranking in the 21 years it has been included in the survey. This was followed by truck parking at 62.5; driver compensation at 59; compliance, safety, accountability at 53.4; and English-language proficiency for drivers at 52.8.
The survey this year included more than 4,200 trucking industry stakeholders, a 14% increase over last year. More than 46% of respondents were motor carrier executives and personnel, 30% were truck drivers and 23% were various industry stakeholders such as suppliers, driver trainers and law enforcement.
The lack of available truck parking dropped two spots this year. Driver training standards, at No. 9, made the list for the first time since its introduction as an option in 2019. It ranked seventh among driver respondents. Compensation, truck parking and English-language proficiency were the top three concerns among truck drivers. Motor carriers ranked the economy, lawsuit abuse reform and insurance cost and availability as their top three.
The four issues that emerged on the top 10 list were English-language proficiency for drivers at No. 7, diesel emissions regulations at No. 8, driver training standards at No. 9 and artificial intelligence in trucking at No. 10.
Driver training standards, which has been a top issue among truck drivers since 2019, illustrate how the industry is increasingly immersed in automation and electronic transactions across many aspects of the supply chain.
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