Posted on Sep 03, 2011

To say that the number of safety violations in Mexican trucks entering the U.S. is not good would be a gross understatement. Let’s look at the data from the El Paso border crossing (which is only one of the many places where Mexican trucks roll over U.S. borders each day). Between 2007 and the first 6 months of 2011, U.S. officials conducted 1.2 million inspections at the Zaragoza International Bridge and the Bridge of the Americas in El Paso. The inspectors found 1,004,213 safety violations. This amazing number of safety violations in Mexican trucks entering the U.S. (many of them by repeat offenders) included brake defects, defects with lights, and flat tires (which could lead to dangerous truck accidents and rollovers).

That gives us over 1 million violations out of 1.2 million inspections, a huge percentage of the total number of inspections. The news reports that the El Paso Times states that these safety violations caused 31,519 trucks and 625 truck drivers to be placed out of service during that time period. The report does not specify whether these violators were just Mexican trucks and truckers, how long they were placed “out of service,” or what that really means to the safety of our roads.

That number tells you a lot about the safety hazards posed in the U.S. by the Mexican trucks that U.S. government wants to freely let make long hauls all throughout the country under NAFTA. Perhaps that tells us a lot about how much the U.S. administration cares about your safety too. Reports tell us that the U.S. and the states have no authority to impose federal and state safety standards upon trucks manufactured and purchased in Mexico. So the government apparently gives your safety a lower priority than its NAFTA agenda.

The government wants to let unsafe Mexican trucks have free access to our roads despite their failures to meet (or even approach in most cases) our safety standards. (You, on the other hand, must comply at your own expenses with U.S. and state safety standards or pay heavy fines, have your vehicle impounded and/or lose your license to drive.) Do you believe that letting Mexican trucks roll freely throughout our land under NAFTA will bring you enough benefits to outweigh the potential costs and truck wreck hazards that they will pose to you on the roads and perhaps in the jobs market as well? The number of safety violations in Mexican trucks entering the U.S. pretty well speaks for itself.

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