Although a report on Mexican trucks crossing into the United States indicated a larger sample of carriers is needed to make a statistically significant comparison of safety performance, the findings showed that the project participants had lower out-of-service (OOS) rates relative to the OOS rates for all US-domiciled trucks.
“As the report makes clear, those measures have effectively shown that US and Mexican carriers can safely engage in cross-border trucking operations while providing US drivers new opportunities to compete and succeed in a market where they previously were unable to operate,” Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Administrator John Hill said in a news release.
The FMCSA/Department of Transportation (FMCSA/DOT) program is part of the southern border truck and bus crossing provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Members of the Independent Evaluation Panel who conducted the study were charged with a comprehensive evaluation of the DOT's United States-Mexico Cross-Border Trucking Demonstration Project, which began September 7, 2007. The panel had the responsibility of independently reviewing this project for 12 months, assessing the implementation of US motor carrier safety rules, and evaluating the compliance and safety record of Mexico-domiciled carriers and trucks operating in the United States under the project. The report was issued October 31.
“We found that the level of participation fell far short of what the department had projected and that most of the demonstration trucks operated only within the border zone,” the panel said in the report. “Only 29 Mexican carriers, not the 100 carriers that FMCSA projected, were granted long-haul operating authority (OP-1) during the 12 months to travel beyond the border commercial zone. Two of the carriers dropped out of the project. FMCSA records indicate that two of the remaining 27 carriers never crossed into the United States. As a result, only 25 Mexico-domiciled carriers participated in the project. The participant carriers operated about 100 trucks, far fewer than the 500 trucks that had been expected to participate in the project.”
The panel also said that their work verified that FMCSA implemented policies and regulations regarding admitting Mexico-domiciled carriers into the demonstration project, establishing safety mechanisms at the border, ensuring enforcement of safety rules by state enforcement officials, and carrying out the DOT's commitment to check every truck and every driver every time. A copy of the report is available at www.dot.gov/affairs/PanelReport.pdf.
Some in Congress have criticized the program and made efforts to end it. The program also is opposed by the Owner-Operators Independent Drivers Association, Brotherhood of Teamsters, Public Citizen, and the Sierra Club.