We haven’t touched on this subject for awhile and since it seems the opponent and others are beginning to throw around their distorted version of events, perhaps it’s time we revisit the subject.

Where we’re at!

As of today, the program has been active and beginning it’s fourth month. To date, the carnage predicted, the loss of jobs, the influx of thousands of “dangerous” Mexican trucks has not occurred, nor do I see it happening anytime in the future.

Instead, well established Mexican common carriers have received provisional authority under the Cross Border Program and seem to be servicing their own customers, both ways, north and south.

It is being proven daily, and with no effort, that the Mexican drivers and companies are capable of operating safely and efficiently.

And the opposition squeaks, er speaks

After a lull in the action, our good friend and protector of the American trucking industry, Jimmy Hoffa, came down from his ivory tower to lead a rally at the Otay Mesa border crossing this week. In attendance, besides the Teamsters, were representative of Public Citizen and other self styled watch dog groups.

Surprisingly, Melissa Delaney, spokesperson for FMCSA was in attendance to leverage the misinformation being passed around by James Hoffa.

Ms Delaney’s response to Hoffas nonsense? A dismissive,

U.S. Department of Transportation spokeswoman Melissa Mazzella-DeLaney, who was at the rally, said union protectionism is the real force behind opposition and that Hoffa does not have the facts to back up his claims of unsafe trucks and drivers.

“To say that these trucks are not inspected is absolutely false,” Mazzella-DeLaney said. “They have more requirements than U.S. trucks.”

Likewise, she said Mexican drivers are heavily regulated and must undergo regular drug testing.

She pointed to a recent study by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration which found that fewer Mexican drivers fail U.S. inspections than their U.S. counterparts.

OOIDA responds to FMCSA response to Sierra Club lawsuit

The case number is 07-73987 if anyone is interested, filed in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which incidentally, received a new Chief Justice.

Rick Craig of OOIDA filed a response including numerous exhibits, to the response FMCSA filed a couple of weeks ago.

In the FMCSA response to the lawsuit, the government stated,

The government’s filing said some 4.5 million of those short trips across the U.S.-Mexico border are made each year.”With respect to those operations, Mexican carriers are maintaining a regulatory compliance record that meets or exceeds that of United States carriers,” the government said in its Thursday filing.

FMCSA further contends,

DOT basically argues that neither the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) nor the Sierra Club — lead petitioners in the consolidated actions — demonstrates “the injury in fact” or “the particularized harm” necessary for Article III standing and federal court intervention.

“The two declarations submitted by Sierra Club offer nothing more than the speculative conclusion that granting a limited number of Mexico-domiciled trucks broader access to U.S. highways will cause an increased likelihood of road accidents (a factual assertion contradicted by regulatory enforcement statistics collected by [the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration]),” the response states. “And OOIDA has presented neither declarations nor any other evidence.”

On December 5, 2007, OOIDA did indeed respond to FMCSA response. After being admonished by the court for submitting arguments under “improper cover”, they were resubmitted. To date, the filing is not available to the public, but we can pretty well imagine what the response was.

Consider the article published by OOIDA which begins with the paragraph,

Members of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association say they have documented hundreds of safety violations by Mexican rolling on U.S. roads under the Cross Border Trucking Program.

How can this be? The “members” of OOIDA documenting violations of hundreds of Mexican trucks? Why there is only 48 trucks to date authorized to operate beyond the commercial zone. Or could it be they are taking photographs of local shuttle trucks and passing them off as de facto participants in the Cross Border program? Methinks this is probably the case. Opponents continue to insist that the border shuttle fleet, which seems to have a lower OOS rate than American or Canadian carriers, are in fact, the trucks that will be operating on our highways.

Indeed, OOIDA and World Net Daily have thrown out erroneous facts and statistics allegedly taken from FMCSA’s own Safestats Database.

The real numbers in the Safersys data base tell an entirely different story however. For those interested, the true numbers have been analyzed and presented in table format, the true and correct statistics are here.

Other observations of note.

What I find particularly interesting is the fact that everyone seems to be ignoring the 859-1300 Mexican carriers who were grandfathered in under the 1962 moratorium that President Reagan signed closing the borders. These carriers have been operating for more than 25 years, legally and safely in the United States. Although through attrition, it is unknown how many of the original carriers are still in business.

So my question is, what is so important about these 48 Mexican trucks belonging to 9 Mexican carriers that has brought out the worst in people. And issue which in reality is a non issue.

Conclusion

If anyone bothers to look and run the DOT numbers assigned to the Mexican carriers, one will find where most have US mailing addresses.

As I have said previously, were the program to shut down tomorrow, under the rules as they stand, all of these companies with an American business address, would be allowed to continue operations. Using the same Mexican drivers and the same Mexican line haul rigs that have been approved for participation in the cross border program.

The difference will be that they will not be subject to the increased scrutiny that they have at the moment. Nor could they be. Cut off funding for the Cross Border Program and you cut off funding for the 500 or more CVSA certified State and Federal CV inspectors assigned to oversee the program. And not only do these inspectors oversee the carriers with OP-2MX authority, they provide increased inspection capability for the border shuttle fleet. Not to mention staffing for the border inspection stations that were built to comply with the Cross Border program guidelines. And the objection to the Mexican trucks is all about safety, right?

We’ve seen more and more mainstream newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal,, The Arizona Republic and others. such as columnists for these major news organizations

Fortunately, the opposition is in the minority. Those who have difficulty thinking for themselves will continue to spew vitriolic hatred of the program and it’s participants while those of us who can think for ourselves will see the frivolity of the opposition and their silly little lawsuits and protests.

Personally, I will be glad to see a resolution to all this nonsense so we can all get back to the business of trucking in these difficult times.

On a personal note, there are those who have made it their mission in life to try and destroy this authors credibility, simply because I don;t conform to their philosophy of how things should be. Fortunately, they have failed.

When I speak, when I write and what I post here and on my own site, it is based on fact, informed opinion, and documented statistics. All easily back checked.

My credibility has been acknowledged by nationally acclaimed radio talk show hosts, by interviews with OVERDRIVE MAGAZINE which we can all agree is a renowned publication and also by permitting my site and it’s content to be used by organization and indivuduals as a research tool. This my friends, establishes my credibility and expertise on the issues of Mexican trucks. I deal in documented and researched facts and statistics, backed up by photographic proof. And that my friends is all of that!

Take care and have a wonderful holiday season!