The report, a product of the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee’s cross-border subcommittee, worried that the three-year long-haul demonstration project did not produce data sufficient to analyze the safety of Mexican carriers’ long-haul trucking operations in the U.S.
Only 13 Mexican carriers were participating in the program by its end, though more were needed, noted California Highway Patrol rep and subcommittee chair Janice Mulanix.
“Few of those were in the pilot program for more than 1 year,” the report notes. “Most of the vehicles and motor carriers in the pilot program did not engage in long-haul operations beyond the border commercial zones.”
Most of the inspections were completed in the commercial zone, “not outside of it,” Mulanix said, referencing fewer than 10 inspections conducted elsewhere. “Only 5 percent of the trips were outside of the border zone.” Moreover, more than 82 percent of all the inspections were of just two of the participating motor carriers’ drivers and trucks, and “a very small number were Level 1 and 2 inspections.”
Most were driver credentials inspections, which FMCSA Associate Administrator for Enforcement Bill Quade explained by pointing out that all Mexican carriers in the pilot program were required to keep current CVSA decals showing evidence of a Level 1 inspection within the last three months on their participating trucks. It’s “common protocol…not to do an inspection on a truck with a decal,” he said.
Mexican carriers operating in the U.S., in the small sample of pilot carriers, had safety records that indicated better performance than the average of U.S. carriers, despite a very-high inspection rate of approximately 18 annual inspections per truck. By comparison, U.S. trucks on average receive just more than 1 inspection annually.
