Maryland and DC inspections sideline 128 drivers as truck blitz widens

Federal inspectors have put 128 drivers and 283 trucks out of service in Maryland and Washington, D.C., after more than 1,000 commercial vehicle inspections under the expanded Operation Highway Shield.

The FMCSA, working with Maryland State Police, the Maryland Transportation Authority Police, the Maryland Department of the Environment and the Comptroller of Maryland, conducted 941 inspections in the state. That sweep alone sidelined 191 vehicles and 92 drivers for violations of federal or state safety rules.

In the District, FMCSA paired with the Metropolitan Police Department for 125 inspections of large trucks and buses on Nov. 6. The result: 193 violations, 50 of them serious enough to trigger out-of-service orders. The agency didn't say how many individual drivers or vehicles were pulled in D.C., and it offered no breakdown of violation types in Maryland, including how many drivers failed English-language proficiency checks.

What does this change for carriers?

For fleets running the I-95 corridor through Maryland and the capital, the message is blunt: roadside scrutiny is now routine, not seasonal. A truck sidelined mid-route means a missed delivery window, a tow bill and, often, a broker making other plans. For shippers and forwarders, the risk is capacity that vanishes at the roadside and compliance costs that climb.

The context is hard to ignore. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Nov. 4 enforcement update, federal authorities have placed 33,000 commercial drivers out of service nationwide for failing English-language proficiency requirements since President Donald Trump's April 2025 executive order. DOT also reported revoking 31,000 improperly issued CDLs and closing nearly 10,000 commercial driving schools it says were operating improperly.

Where else did enforcement land?

The Maryland and D.C. operations sit atop a busy week of separate state, local and Canadian actions:

• Arkansas (Oct. 27–29): 393 drivers and vehicles placed out of service, 183 English-language proficiency violations and 44 criminal arrests.
• Stephens City, Virginia: 100 violations from 86 inspections; 11 vehicles and two drivers out of service.
• Culpeper County, Virginia: 22 inspections produced 148 documented violations, including 34 out-of-service counts. Fourteen vehicles were benched, four summonses issued, 144 warnings written and two drivers cited for operating without valid CDLs. Four unsafe vehicles were towed.
• Salem, Oregon (Nov. 5): 12 trucks inspected along Mission Street SE yielded 48 equipment violations, nine driver violations and 24 out-of-service violations; nine vehicles and five drivers sidelined.
• Wallkill, New York: a multijurisdictional operation on the Route 302 and 17M corridors with state police, DOT and the Orange County Sheriff's Office found 248 violations and put 19 trucks, six trailers and six drivers out of service.

Arizona and British Columbia: the sharp end

Arizona troopers reported two standouts. On Nov. 5, DPS Highway Patrol responded near Flagstaff to a semi failing to hold its lane on Interstate 40. A caller had already pulled the driver from the cab and taken the keys. A preliminary breath sample showed a blood alcohol concentration of 0.301 — nearly eight times the 0.04 federal threshold for commercial drivers. Alcohol was found in the cab; the driver was arrested on suspicion of DUI and the truck impounded for 20 days.

Three days earlier in Mesa, enforcement troopers stopped a truck hauling an approximately 25,000-pound mobile office on State Route 202. The trailer had no functioning brakes and an inoperative emergency breakaway device. It was placed out of service pending repairs.

In Burnaby, British Columbia, RCMP officers stopped a commercial truck in early October on Royal Oak Avenue — a road not designated for truck traffic — and found a significant air leak, low air pressure and partially engaged spring brakes. All six brakes were overheating. During the inspection itself, the primary air line ruptured and the brake system failed. Police said the failure could have caused a catastrophic collision had it happened while the truck descended a nearby hill toward a busy intersection. Insors also found an overweight front axle, unsecured cargo and a seat belt violation. Seven tickets totaling $1,095.60 were issued.

The trajectory

Not all of these actions belong to Operation Highway Shield — the Maryland, D.C., Arkansas and Virginia blitzes are federal-led, while the rest are independent state, local and Canadian initiatives. The pattern, though, is unmistakable. Regulators are pressing harder on driver qualifications, equipment maintenance and licensing compliance across freight corridors on both sides of the border, and carriers should expect that pressure to keep building into next year.