MEXICAN TRUCKS

FACT SHEET

In November of 2002, the Bush Administration opened the southern border of the United States to trucks carrying goods from Mexico. This decision - aimed at putting the U.S. in compliance with the North America Free Trade Agreement's (NAFTA) cross border trucking provisions - will jeopardize safety on America's roads. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in January 2003, however, that the Bush Administration violated federal law by not completing an Environmental Impact Statement before processing applications from Mexican truckers. Thus, for the time being, Mexican trucks are still prohibited from traveling throughout the U.S.

The U.S. has the power under NAFTA to assess individually all motor carriers seeking to enter U.S. territory. Because Mexican trucks fail inspections at approximately double the rate of domestic U.S. carriers, the United States should require full safety compliance reviews of Mexican motor carriers applying to operate nationwide before they are awarded interstate operating authority. Only a complete safety audit of each of these carriers can determine whether they have satisfactory safety management, equipment, and drivers before gaining unrestricted access to our nation's highways. The American people deserve no less.

TRUCK SAFETY STILL A MAJOR CHALLENGE IN THE U.S.

5,082 people were killed and 131,000 were injured in crashes involving large trucks in 2001. (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, 2002)

Large trucks make up 4 percent of all registered vehicles and 8 percent of all vehicle miles traveled. Yet, large trucks are involved in 12 percent of all passenger vehicle occupant deaths.
(NHTSA, 2002)

In 2001, large trucks were more likely to be involved in a fatal multiple-vehicle crash as opposed to a single-vehicle crash than were passenger vehicles (83 percent of all large trucks in fatal crashes, compared with 62 percent of all passenger vehicles). (NHTSA, 2002)

Most of the fatal crashes involving large trucks occur in rural areas (67 percent), during the day (69 percent) and on weekdays
(80 percent). (NHTSA, 2001)

Ninety-eight percent of people killed in two-vehicle crashes involving passenger vehicles and a large truck in 1999 were the occupants of the passenger vehicle.
(Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, or IIHS, 2000)

In 2001, there were 483 fatalities in Texas, 376 in California, 85 in Arizona, and 60 in New Mexico caused by large truck crashes. (NHTSA, 2001)

MEXICAN TRUCK AND DRIVER SAFETY STANDARDS STILL LACKING

Mexican law does not require many fundamentals of highway safety policy that are required by U.S. law and regulation:

There are no enforced hours of service restrictions for truck drivers;

Logbooks are not used by truck drivers;

There is no safety rating system;

Driver licensing requirements permit commercial drivers under the age of 21;

Truck weight limitations are significantly higher than the U.S. - as high as 171,000 pounds;

Hazardous materials rules are much less stringent than in the U.S.;

Roadside inspections remain voluntary at present and planned to be phased in over two years; and

There are no out of service requirements.

Mexico has no safety audit system in place nor any motor carrier compliance review program. There is no evidence that funding has been provided for enforcement measures.

U.S. SAFETY INSPECTIONS AND ENFORCEMENT ARE INADEQUATE

In FY 2000, U.S. inspectors performed 46,144 inspections of commercial trucks entering the U.S. at the Mexican border. Of those inspected, 36 percent were removed from service because of serious safety defects. (U.S. DOT Office of the Inspector General, 2001)

There are only about 89 state commercial truck inspectors and 58 federal inspectors at the Mexican border. (U.S. General Accounting Office, GAO, December 2001)

According to the U.S. DOT Inspector General, the U.S. enforcement program cannot assure the safety of Mexican trucks entering the United States, and is presently unprepared for the lifting of the moratorium on cross border trucking.

Texas, which handles two-thirds of all truck traffic entering the U.S. at the southern border, has no permanent truck inspection facility at any of its 15 border crossings and none of its inspectors are full-time. (U.S. DOT Office of the Inspector General, 2001)