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 News from Around the Americas | February 2008 
US Defends Mexico Truck Pilot Program
 Paul M. Krawzak - Copley News Service
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| | Mary Peters | | |
Washington – In her first public statements on the Mexican trucking controversy, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters defended yesterday the pilot program that allows Mexican trucks to travel throughout the United States in defiance of a congressional order.
U.S. officials also responded to complaints that a Mexican carrier that withdrew from the program several days ago never should have qualified because of an allegedly poor safety record.
Peters got an earful of criticism from several lawmakers during a House appropriations transportation subcommittee hearing on President Bush's proposed budget.
Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, accused Peters of being in violation of the law for continuing the five-month-old program, which opened the U.S.-Mexico border to crossings by authorized trucks from both countries and allowed Mexican trucks to travel beyond a previous 25-mile limit. Congress later passed a law to shut off program funding.
“It's a mystery to me why, with all the other transportation needs we have in this country, you're spending money on a program that we specifically asked you not to do,” Kaptur said.
Peters reiterated the administration's view that the law enacted in December was too narrowly worded to end the program – scheduled to continue through September.
She emphasized what she said were the program's strict requirements to ensure that Mexican carriers comply with U.S. safety standards.
“There have been no safety incidents involving these vehicles to date,” Peters said. None of the 42 Mexican trucks enrolled in the program has been involved in an accident, officials said.
They said the Mexican trucks have compiled an average 10 percent “out of service” rate since the program began – meaning that 10 percent of the vehicles that were pulled over for inspections were put out of service until violations were corrected.
That's less than half the 23 percent out-of-service rate for U.S. trucks, according to the agency.
The Teamsters Union, a foe of the project, slammed the Department of Transportation for allowing a Mexican carrier, Trinity Industries of Mexico, based in Piedras Negras, Mexico, to join the program after racking up an average of 112 safety violations per truck in the previous year. DOT spokesman Brian G. Turmail said the carrier was approved because the “vast majority of (violations) were relatively minor.”
Trinity qualified for the program in November but withdrew Feb. 1 and never sent any trucks into the United States beyond the commercial border strip.
Leonel Olivares, terminal manager at Trinity Industries in Eagle Pass, Texas, said its Mexican affiliate “never had intentions of the drivers actually driving into the States. They just wanted to look at the program,” he said.
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