Tightening of Mexican Over the Road Trucks and Trucking Companies
By: Lance Winslow
The dire warnings of allowing Mexican Trucks to enter the United States to deliver product were not anywhere near the scare tactics used by the Union Truck Drivers. Yet you could not say that some of those claims were without merit or that there are not some serious issues to consider. Many of the trucks coming over from Mexico are in a state of disrepair, with all sorts of safety and mechanical issues. Many are big polluters as well. If you consider where these trucks they are driving came from originally it is not so hard to figure out why.
You see many of the trucks being driven by Mexican Drivers have come from the United States. These are our old trucks, which are no longer in service. There are many reasons for trucks no longer in service. Some have expired of their leases, some are simply too old and worn out to operate or they do not comply with current emission standards for pollution control. Some of these trucks have been flagged out of service at truck scales or at inspection time and are not allowed to be used anymore on US highways as per the DOT. Then all these trucks end up as trade-ins at new truck dealers and/or go to used truck lots or truck and equipment auctions. Trucking company entrepreneurs come over from Mexico and buy these trucks to use.
Then something happens which is beyond my comprehension, we allow them to deliver products in our country from Mexico and drive here anyway? Can I ask a simple question? Why do we bother to have such safety standards in our country if we allow this? It is as if we enforce our own companies and allow the Mexican trucking companies a different set of standards, which basically violates our laws. What are we thinking? I predict that in 2006 some of these rules and regulations will be looked at as more and more people notice the problems that these Mexican Trucks are causing? Think on things like this in 2006.
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