Mexico Trucker Online

This morning, Mike McConnell had John Hill, Administrator of the FMCSA on his program to explain the Mexican Pilot Truck Program.

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McConnell seemed to hit all the points of concern, safety, border security etc. Mr Hill answered all questions in a clean concise manner and accepted calls from concerned drivers, including those who tried to come on and push the agenda of the opposition.

Some points that came out and were clarified were:

• There is a database to track driver records and convictions and has been for the past 7 years.
• Trucks crossing will have CVSA stickers or they will not be allowed in this country
• All drivers will have appropriate entry documents issued by the State Department
• Background checks are irrelevant since Mexican participants are forbidden to carry haz mat which is the only time a background security check is required.

And there were others. The biggest FUBAR I noticed was that Mike allowed assertions of Mexican carriers working for 11cpm not realizing that they were talking about driver wages which are much higher than 11 cpm and the opponents did not bother to correct this misinformation.

In the second hour, giving equal time to the opposition, was Rick Craig of OOIDA. And this guy was a joke. Mike McConnell totally destroyed him in his questioning. So much so that in the end, you could tell the frustrations in Craig’s voice.

When asked about their opposition, Craig responded with the “party line” as expected but when pressed by McConnell how he knew this stuff, the standard answer was, “we just know”! And when McConnell would press the issue and point out that an a Pilot Program would verify who was right and who was wrong, Criag still persisted.

What got me about the whole thing with Craig was his continued insistence that in the face of irrefutable evidence to the contrary, That NO DATABASES exist in Mexico. Who do you believe? Mr Hill who has been on the ground and on scene in Mexico, or Craig who is parroting misinformation from his ivory tower in D.C.? Based on the interviews and personal knowledge, I choose to believe Mr. Hill.

But Craig went further. He stated there are no databases that OOIDA and others can access to check driver records of Mexican drivers. I got news for Rick Craig. Driver records, without regard to nationality or country, are private. Nobody should have access to this information outside of law enforcement And besides that. The information he wants is not in the driver files but in the license files of those who have had their LFC’s suspended or revoked.

So how is this going over on the overnight trucking shows? Well “ED” wants to put his foot up McConnells ass and said so on air. Other are calling for McConnell’s head and job because he presented the truth they didn’t want to hear and which is contrary to their version of the truth. And so it goes.Listen to the Podcasts of the program and decide for yourself