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2007 SORROW TO STRENGTH CONFERENCE

Administration Plans to Open Southern Border
to Mexican Long-Haul Trucks
February 23, 2007

Safety Organizations Call on Congress to Hold Oversight Hearings Before Scheduled Opening -- Mexican Trucks Still Plagued with
Serious Safety Problems

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced today that it will open the southern U.S. border to 100 long-haul, interstate trucking companies from Mexico. In 2001 safety groups supported bi-partisan legislation (Public Law 107-87, December 18, 2001) adopted in the House and Senate that put the brakes on opening the border until basic safety measures and procedures were in place.

Among the benchmarks are requirements for Safety Audits at Mexican trucking company places of business to determine each motor carrier’s safety management quality before awarding operating authority, the elimination of inaccurate data about Mexican trucks and drivers, adequate border safety inspection facilities, and certified random drug and alcohol testing already required of U.S. truck drivers. In a 2005 report, the U.S. DOT Inspector General (IG) has consistently found that many of those benchmarks had not been met. Another IG report is due to be issued in about two months.

Today, safety groups sent a letter to the Democratic and Republican leaders of the key committees asking for oversight hearings.

“Congress had to step in more than five years ago and stop the Administration from opening the border until an adequate level of safety is achieved. Now Congress needs to step in again. There is an urgent need for oversight hearings on safety and security issues at the southern border before the DOT rushes to open the border,” said Jacqueline Gillan, vice-president, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (Advocates).

Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, stressed that several current facts about Mexican trucks entering the U.S. are still highly disturbing and show that the border is not ready for a surge in long-haul Mexican trucks traveling freely throughout the U.S. “Many states are still not putting trucks without legal operating authority out of service and stopping them from operating. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) admits that many states have not authorized law enforcement to stop illegal trucks from hauling their cargo despite the fact that these trucks do not have proper registration and operating authority,” she added.

Other facts about current Mexican trucks and drivers also raise alarms about the consequences of Mexican trucks and drivers traveling throughout the U.S. “Mexican truck drivers are frequently attempting to cross into the U.S. border zone without valid driver licenses or even with no licenses,” said Gerald Donaldson, senior research director for Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. “In fact, the latest figures from FMCSA show that almost one out of four Mexican drivers do not even have their own Mexican commercial driver license when they try to cross into the U.S.,” he stressed.

FMCSA to date has a poor record of investigating Mexican truck safety. The agency’s safety Compliance Reviews of Mexican trucks coming across the southern border, for example, have plunged from 268 in 2003, to 236 in 2004, down to only 106 in 2005.

Donaldson also emphasized that there are other serious, chronic safety issues with Mexican trucks. “We have more than one of five Mexican trucks placed out of service at the border because of equipment defects, and when Mexican trucks haul hazardous materials, almost one out of four trucks use prohibited signs on their rigs that don’t say what kind of dangerous cargo is on board,” he said.

In addition, driver fatigue, a widespread industry problem that contributes to truck-related crashes, is a major safety concern for truck drivers entering the U.S. “I am deeply troubled that DOT is looking the other way on the problem of fatigued and sleep-deprived Mexican truck drivers” said John Lannen, the executive director of the Truck Safety Coalition, an umbrella group representing Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (CRASH) and Parents Against Tired Truckers (P.A.T.T.). “The U.S. DOT knows that more than 15 percent of Mexican truck drivers entering the U.S. don’t even have the paper logbooks that are currently required to show the amount of working, driving, and rest time. We have no proof that Mexican drivers will not continue to flout U.S. limits on driving time and fail to keep proper time records,” he stressed.

“The problem of adequate enforcement of hours of service rules is compounded by a weak and ineffective proposed rule recently issued by FMCSA. The agency has decided not to mandate Electronic On-Board Recorders (EOBRs) for all big trucks to prove how many hours they are on the road and assist police in enforcing the laws that restrict driving time,” added Claybrook.

Safety organizations have tried for months to determine what plans were being made by the Administration to open the southern border to long-haul Mexican trucks. A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request was filed with FMCSA on October 17, 2006. The law requires the agency to provide the documents within 20 business days but the agency has not provided any records in over three and a half months. “Withholding agency records on this issue that should be made public underscores the need for oversight hearings in Congress,” said Gillan.