Mexican carriers that have been allowed to send trucks beyond the restricted U.S. border zone in recent years have a better safety record than their U.S. counterparts, federal transportation officials said this week.
According to Copley News Service, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said the 859 Mexican carriers had 1.21 percent of their drivers removed from service after failing roadside inspections between 2003 and 2006. By comparison, 7.06 percent of all U.S. truck drivers were taken out of service after failing inspections during the same period, the news service reported.
The figures are intended to provide backing for the Bush administration’s stand that a pilot program allowing Mexican trucks to travel throughout the United States is safe. “It’s consistent with what we’ve been saying all along,” said John Hill, administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. “It shows that the Mexican carriers have responded to those safety requirements and become as safe – or safer – than what U.S. carriers are.”
In the 1990s, the federal government granted several hundred Mexican carriers with partial U.S. ownership the right to travel in certain states; most of the 859 carriers that currently have authority to travel beyond a 25-mile-wide commercial zone on the U.S. side of the border fit into that category, Hill told Copley. The study also compared the safety record of 6,340 Mexican carriers that are limited to the U.S. border zone; from 2003 to 2006, this group had a driver out-of-service rate of 1.66 percent – still better than the U.S. truckers, Copley reported.
The long-haul Mexican truckers also had the best record for trucks taken out of service as a result of equipment violations, according to the news agency; the long-haul truckers had 21.29 percent of trucks removed from service, compared with 23.5 percent for U.S. carriers. Mexican border carriers had 22.5 percent of trucks denied permission to drive after inspections that revealed violations, Copley reported.
FMCSA announced Wednesday, Sept. 19, that IBC Inc. — a San Diego-based trucking company — and Transportes Rafa — a Mexicali, Baja-based trucking company — both had received authority to make long-haul deliveries in Mexico and the United States, respectively, as part of the cross-border trucking demonstration project. These are the second companies from each country to receive authority since the one-year demonstration was launched Sept. 6, Hill said.
“We are enforcing tough safety standards at every stage of this demonstration as we tap into this unique opportunity to compete in new markets and increase border trade efficiency,” Hill said. “There is tremendous potential to reduce costs for American consumers and businesses while maintaining safety on American roads.”
