One of the sticking points in the enactment of NAFTA has been that of Mexican truck-drivers. Technically, the US-Mexican border was to have been opened up to cross-border trucking quite a while ago, but the reality of Mexican trucks being subject to less stringent maintenance and operating requirements and cross-border insurance issues.
According to the New York Times it sounds like those issues are being worked out:
According to the Transportation Department, inspectors will examine every truck and interview drivers to ensure they can read and speak English. They will examine trucks and check the licenses, insurance and driving records of the Mexican drivers, and they will verify that their employers are insured by companies licensed in the United States.
Needless to say, the teamsters union is not amused.
1 response so far ↓
1 mike // 1 Mar 2007 at 10:16 am
This is possibly the worst thing to hit the trucking industry in decades. It is also not good for the general public, but sadly, probably only a small percentage know it is about to happen, and even fewer understand the concerns.
Drivers in the United States are held to strict regulations in regards to their driving hours, and the trucks are held to strict guidelines in terms of safety inspections. It is not the same in Mexico. Drivers have no limits to the amount of hours they can drive, and although the drivers will be under United States guidelines (11 hours per day driving max.), there will be no way to enforce how long they have been on duty at the time they hit the border.
The trucks are maintained poorly and will be safety hazards, especially as they begin traveling to all points of the United States and end up on our already dangerous mountain ranges.