Trucking Safety Crisis: How ELD Self-Certification is Killing People

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Mark Hazelwood breaks down the dangers of unchecked ELD self-certification and the surge of non-domiciled drivers, arguing these factors are not only distorting freight markets but also contributing to highway fatalities. He explains why US enforcement needs to catch up to Canada’s third-party certification model and the huge economic ripple effects for carriers and drivers. This is a must-watch for anyone concerned about the future of trucking safety and fair competition.

The United States has 1,020 electronic logging device providers operating under a self-certification model, compared with just 42 providers in Canada, which has required third-party certification since 2019. That gap, according to Mark Hazelwood — chairman of Conversion Interactive, Echo Flaps, and Assured Telematics — has allowed bad actors to flood the market with manipulable ELDs that let drivers far exceed legal hours-of-service limits, with deadly consequences. The current administration, he said, is moving toward mandating third-party ELD certification, though the timeline remains unclear.

The scale of the disparity underscores why the issue matters to carriers, brokers, and shippers: non-domiciled drivers exploiting manipulated ELDs are logging an estimated 145,000 to 150,000 miles per year, versus the roughly 92,000 to 96,000 miles a compliant driver can legally run. Hazelwood argues that each non-domiciled driver removed from service effectively eliminates the equivalent of 1.5 legal drivers worth of capacity, amplifying the market impact of enforcement actions.

The non-domiciled CDL holder population exploded during the previous administration, Hazelwood said, rising from approximately 170,000 when President Trump left office in January 2020 to 780,000 when he returned in January 2025. He attributed the surge in part to CDL mills that fast-tracked licenses within two to three days without adequate training. FMCSA and DOT have since taken more than 20,000 drivers out of service and revoked 28,000 illegal CDLs, though Hazelwood acknowledged that number alone is not sufficient to meaningfully shift capacity.

“There are about 1,020 ELD providers, and it’s all because we have self-certification on the ELD. In self-certification, it’s like grading your own papers. Guess what? You’re self-certified. You’re now an ELD provider.”

Hazelwood said the administration is expected to announce a move to third-party ELD certification, though he cautioned that full implementation would be difficult to accomplish within 12 months. He noted that Assured Telematics spent millions of dollars obtaining certification in Canada — where it was the first provider certified — and expects comparable costs domestically. He predicted many of the 1,020 current providers would exit the market rather than pursue certification once an announcement is made.

On the driver recruiting side, Hazelwood said Conversion Interactive — which he describes as the largest driver recruiting agency in the country — is seeing rising demand. Rates have been climbing for roughly five to six months, he said, but unlike prior upcycles, carriers are not rushing to add capacity due to the limited pool of qualified drivers, which he believes will help prevent the market from overcorrecting.

Separately, Hazelwood offered a bearish outlook on diesel crack spreads, noting that refiner margins on diesel currently sit at $87 per barrel against a historical norm of $15 to $20. He attributed elevated diesel prices largely to U.S. exports of roughly 2 million barrels per day flowing to Northern Europe to offset refinery disruptions tied to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. He projected crack spreads could fall below $40 within six months and said crude oil prices could return to the low-$60 range once the conflict concludes, potentially with a roughly 20% immediate drop in crude prices when a resolution appears imminent.

• The U.S. has 1,020 self-certified ELD providers versus just 42 in Canada, enabling hours-of-service manipulation that Hazelwood says is causing fatal crashes.

• Non-domiciled CDL holders grew from 170,000 in January 2020 to 780,000 in January 2025; each driver removed effectively eliminates 1.5 drivers’ worth of capacity.

• Diesel crack spreads stand at $87 per barrel — far above the $15–$20 norm — driven by U.S. exports of ~2 million barrels per day to Northern Europe.

Speaker 1 [0:00] Speaking of double brokering and the fraud that continues to propagate this industry, there’s no better person to talk about than Mark Hazelwood, who is on an absolute tear right now. Mark, let’s start with, uh, really what you’re up to. Uh, last time we talked, there’s a lot going on in your life. Uh, what, what is the latest, uh, with you, sir?

Speaker 2 [0:20] Well, first of all, uh, Julie and Craig, thank you for having me. I really appreciate the opportunity and, uh, several things. One of the things that we’ve really been focused on over the last year is really working on the non-domiciled driver and what the non-domiciled driver is doing and has done to the industry really over the last, you know, 7, 8 years since the ELD has come into play. But it’s really expanded itself in the previous administration. And really changed the dynamics of the trucking industry because of the amount of miles that these non-domiciled drivers are driving. And when you look at it, you know, they’re driving 145,000-150,000 miles a year to where a driver doing it legally and doing it by the hours of service can maybe get 92,000, 94,000, really good, maybe 96,000 miles a year. So that’s kind of what we’ve been focused on with the administration. And the administration, I think, is doing a stellar job of looking at all of the different aspects that these non-domicileds, you know, have come in and just manipulated the industry.

Speaker 1 [1:45] So, Mark, you’ve got 3 titles. You’ve got your chairman of Conversion Interactive, Echo Flaps, and Assured Telematics. Can we work through each of those, exactly what each of these do, for those— for our audience who maybe isn’t familiar with them? So let’s start with Conversion Interactive.

Speaker 2 [2:00] Yeah, first, Conversion Interactive, uh, uh, is a company. We are the largest, uh, driver recruiting agency. And not just an agency, we’re more technology than we are agency, uh, in today’s world. And, uh, uh, Joanne, my wife, and I own that with Kelly Walkup. And we have worked diligently to develop Agentic, which is an AI development, and really had some great success with recruiting drivers. And it’s a tough market, and it has turned on a dime. It went from, you know, companies not needing drivers to where today, as As you were talking about earlier, Julie, rates are definitely on the upswing and are going to continue that way as capacity leaves the market. And good capacity is there, but drivers are in high demand. So that’s what we do in conversion.

Speaker 1 [2:59] And Mark, are we seeing the driver market, you know, something we were talking about, the labor situation, concern about the market overcorrecting? You’ve been around this industry for your whole life. Do we think this industry is going to be able to hold off of its temptation to overcorrect?

Speaker 2 [3:18] I believe so. And I think for the first time you’re seeing real capacity leave the market to where, as Julie was talking earlier, you don’t see capacity entering the market. Typically, when you have rate increases like what we’ve seen over the last, let’s call it 5, 6 months, You typically have, and John was talking about this too, carriers adding trucks, adding equipment. I think from a capacity standpoint and from just a driver standpoint, I think it’s a little tough for the carriers to add capacity due to the limitation of drivers. I do think this though, as you get back to where carriers will find that the return is there, they will invest in equipment and invest in drivers and invest in making su