Ensuring the Safety and Security of My Truck and Cargo
Exclusive: Ensuring the Safety and Security of My Truck and Cargo
Mark R. Taylor
Author: Mark R. Taylor
Source: The Family Security Foundation, Inc.
Date: September 5, 2007
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org...can_trucks.jpg
President Bush and the DoT have opened our borders to the Mexican trucking industry as part of a controversial new program. FSM Contributor Mark R. Taylor shares his concerns about the effects of this move both on our national security and the livelihoods of American truck drivers.
Ensuring the Safety and Security of My Truck and Cargp
By Mark R. Taylor
In my twenty-plus-year career driving trucks across the 48 states, Canada and Iraq, I have seen fuel prices and taxes rise to new heights; I have seen regulations implemented by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration that tell me when to sleep and when to drive; I have seen any number of changes that affect the trucking industry, good and bad. However, I have not seen anything that will cause irreparable harm to the American trucking industry like the Mexican Truck Pilot Program.
President Bush and the decision makers at the Department of Transportation (none of whom I believe has ever started the engine of a Freightliner, much less dealt with the daily routine of hauling freight), have opened our borders and highways to the Mexican trucking industry. Not 100 trucks – which might, on the surface, seem manageable from a homeland security standpoint – but 100 Mexican trucking companies operating an unknown number of trucks on our highways.
Who will be driving these trucks? Quite frankly, we do not know. The U.S. Department of Transportation will have you believe they will be driven by hard working Mexican truckers, fluent in English with full working knowledge of our Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration laws regulating the U.S. trucking industry. Yes, just like they would have you believe the millions of illegal aliens who have invaded our country are here just to pick lettuce.
When Jim Johnston and the Owner/Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) joined with Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters union in hard-fought attempts to stop the Mexican Truck Pilot Program, I was not surprised. Whether an independent trucker or a union member, the writing is on the wall with regard to our industry. What has been a small surprise is the fact that few larger trucking companies in the U.S. have not spoken out against the program. However, Celedon, which operates terminals in the United States, Mexico and Canada, has been an outspoken supporter of allowing their Mexican drivers access to the United States. According to Celadon’s website, Celadon is one of a limited number of companies that is able to provide for time-sensitive cargo shipments through trailer door-to-door transport in and between any of the NAFTA countries. From an economic standpoint, Celadon has much to gain. Celadon Groups’ CEO, Steve Russell, states with regard to the current restrictions on Mexican trucks in the U.S., on Purchaser.com, “This makes no sense in an age of globalized trade.â€
