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Report exposes high Mexican truck defects. Or does it?

EL PASO, Tex. – Just a few months before the U.S. is scheduled to reopen its border to Mexican long-haul truckers, a report has surfaced that indicates a large majority of trucks heading northbound into El Paso from Mexico have reportable defects.

According to a report by Fox News Latino, Texas Department of Public Safety inspectors found just over 1 million violations on about 1.2 million trucks inspected between 2007 and 2011 at the Bridge of Americas and the Zaragoza International Bridge.

However, many of those violations are likely multiple defects on single units, not the total number of trucks with problems.

And the report doesn't say how many of those trucks belonged to American-based carriers that were returning stateside.

As well, the majority of problems with equipment and drivers appears to be minor or clerical in nature.

Only 31,519 trucks and 625 drivers were placed out of service (OOS) as a result of these inspections. That's an OOS rate of 2.6 percent – well below the domestic U.S. and Canadian averages.

Mexican trucks entering the United States are restricted to a narrow 20-mile border zone. That changes in a few months when the Obama administration relaunches a cross-border program which allows carriers to haul across the U.S. if they comply with strict safety conditions.

Critics of the program are using the latest report to advance their complaints.

"This report confirms what we have been saying for years – Mexican trucking companies and their fleets are not held to the same stringent safety standards as American carriers," the Teamsters' Jim Hoffa told Fox News Latino.

However, State Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, countered by saying the number of violations Mexican trucks is in line with U.S. standards and in some cases are even better.

 
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Anonymous

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I have seen some of the junk that crosses into the restricted areas in Texas from Mexico. I have also seen similar junk running localy almost everywhere I've ever been. On the other hand I have seen Mexican companies who run over the road operations with fleets of new or fairly new Petes, Kenworths and all of the rest. We have some bad operators here and I'm sure they have their share too. It's ridiculous the way the whole industry is painted with the same brush here. It is just as rediculous to broadly state that all the Mexican trucks are unsafe junk. Even if it is for the American protectionist cause. It's just some more of the fallout from the free trade agreements, here have some, yeah I never liked the taste of the NAFTA either but nothing I could do about it.

PMCorn

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Exactly what we've been saying for more than 5 years. Thanks for questioning the validity of this story mexicotrucker.com

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