On Tuesday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce released a report that looked at the effect of three trade actions/inactions by the Administration are having and will have on American workers.
One of the three actions concerned the failure to implement NAFTA trucking provisions, which have been challenged for more than 15 years. Of course, Teamsters President James Hoffa has to chime in with his usual irrelevant opinion.
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The federal government has prompted yet another delay in the implementation of a NAFTA provision that allows Mexican truckers to bring cargo from that country to U.S. markets.
Under the North American Free Trade Agreement, that provision should have gone into effect on Jan. 1, 1995 — more than 14½ years ago.
The U.S. Transportation Department’s inspector general on Wednesday issued a report stating that the department still needs more information to determine if Mexican trucks are safe enough to enter this country.
The report, prepared by department auditors, says that some states don’t adequately report the nationality of people convicted of traffic violations, and that some buses aren’t inspected sufficiently when they cross the border.
This despite a 2007 pilot program that allowed a limited number of Mexican trucks free access throughout the country. Most people didn’t even notice the program was in operation, suggesting there was no sudden rash of accidents due to their presence on U.S. roads.
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Every truck from Mexico that enters the US at Otay Mesa crosses these CHP Inspection scales and are subject to random or for cause inspection at any time
During those inspections only 1.2 percent of Mexican drivers were placed out of service for a violation, as compared to nearly 7 percent of U.S. drivers who were inspected. About 21.2 percent of Mexican trucks – compared to 21.8 percent of U.S. trucks – were placed out of service for safety reasons or because they had violated some other regulation.
Steve Mulder, a spokesman for the Alliance to Keep U.S. Jobs, says the obstacles to resolving the debate over Mexican truck safety – have been removed. He adds, – the tariffs, which remain in place, were prompted by – pure politicking – in the United States, and the new DOT report – makes it clear that Mexico has lived up to the United States’ demands when it comes to truck safety.
James Hoffa whose "hot air" is suspected of being a prime cause of the mythical global warming
James Hoffa came out of hiding today to respond to the OIG Final Report on FMCSA compliance with Section 350 of the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2002 and as usual, his comments were totally irrelevant, and contrary to what the report suggests. This is the type of comments we’ve come to expect and ignore from Hoffa.
As expected, Hoffa’s initial response to the report was to declare that the “inspector general report shows once and for all that the border should remain closed to unsafe Mexican trucks.”
We don’t disagree with that sentiment. All unsafe trucks, Mexican, Canadian and American, should be banished from America’s highways.
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Which would you rather take a trip on? This Irizar coach with state of the art everything like the ones used by all the bus companies in Mexico, or the junk Greyhound has on the road these days? The answer should be obvious
From THE TRUCKER
WASHINGTON — The Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Transportation said in a report released today that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) had either met or “substantially” met the safety criteria set forth in a 2002 appropriations act related to Mexico-domiciled motor carriers potentially operating beyond narrow commercial zones along the border.
The report, required by the 2002 act, was released today.
The OIG cited two areas where it felt FMCSA had not totally met the criteria — having adequate capacity at the southern border to conduct meaningful inspections and having sufficient databases to allow safety monitoring of Mexican carriers and drivers.
With respect to the inspection capacity, the IG wrote: “The capacity to perform truck, bus and driver inspections are in place, but FMCSA needed to include bus inspections during peak hours, such as holiday periods, at Laredo, Texas.”
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The final report issued by the Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General on the Mexican Cross Border Program was made public on Tuesday, and there were no surprises in the report.
Once again, the Inspector General has validated all that has been reported on this site. Furthermore, the report totally debunks the inaccurate and erroneous statements made over the past two years by Jimmy Hoffa and the people at OOIDA.
The report can be downloaded here for your review.
It is suggested that one reads it throughly to get the full impact of the IG’s findings.
Here are some highlights of the report.
Let’s start out with the IG’s report on Trinity Industries. Ya’ll remember Trinity Industries and their Mexican subsidiary Trinity de Mexico SA de CV? They’re the ones that Todd Spencer and OOIDA and Jimmy Hoffa of the Teamsters tried to convince everyone was so unsafe. Well,
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association’s (OOIDA) claim
that Trinity had received over 112 violations per truck during the year prior
to the demonstration project was substantiated; but OOIDA’s claim did not
indicate that Trinity’s out-of-service violations numbered only 74, or an
average of 7.4 out-of-service violations per motorized vehicle over the
1-year period. Trinity’s out-of-service rates were lower than similar rates
for United States carriers during this same period. We found no evidence
that Trinity or other demonstration project participants had poor safety histories before
being admitted into the project based on FMCSA’s data on
the operations of these carriers in the United States.
There is more, but read it for yourself. In a nutshell, OOIDA reported 112 violations per vehicle but did not tell us the rest of the story. This happened before the 9th Circuit also.
Jimmy Hoffa and the folks at OOIDA continue to make the claim of “Dangerous Mexican Trucks”. Indeed, with them “Dangerous” is synonymous with Mexican trucks, but again, not true.
For once, the IG’s report included the Mexican carriers “grandfathered and certified” (G&C) under the 1982 moratorium banning foreign trucks from operating in the US.
The results are conclusive and inescapable. Mexican trucks as a whole have a better safety record than US carriers.
Other Findings:
The following findings are very important because they totally debunk recurring statements by both OOIDA and Teamsters.
Opponents of the program have tried to convince the public that this is not the case. So who knows more? The IG or those with a protectionist agenda.
The downside was mostly of a technical nature. Again, with the IG suggesting there was not enough participants to yield statistically valid results. However, this opinion was made on FMCSA initial claim of participation of 775 companies. If numbers are adjusted for actual participants, then the problem goes away. Without regard to that, the fact remains that the participants have had ZERO accidents and ZERO serious safety violations. To most people, that would be a sign of success.
The IG acknowledged the thoroughness of the vetting process which drove away companies that had originally shown a desire to participate.
The remainder of the problems noted consisted of reporting between FMCSA and the cooperation of CBP officials at the border. All minor suggestions that FMCSA concurred with.
This will be prime evidence when Congress pulls funding for this program, without justification, and the lawsuits begin. I forsee that happening soon after the bill is signed and I also predict an injunction being issued to keep the program in force.
There is no logical or common sense reason to stop the program unless it is to open the border immediately, which is our obligation under NAFTA. There is nothing in this report to suggest that Mexican carriers or unable to operate in full compliance with USDOT rules and regulations and do so in a safe manner.
This report also proves that the oppositions, the protectionists who are scared of a little competition, will do anything, including lying to the American people, to push their agenda.
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