Thread: 1 MILLION truck violations cited at Texas border UPDATED

In today's El Paso Times: 1 million truck violations cited at border crossing

by Diana Washington Valdez \ El Paso Times
Posted: 08/21/2011 09:10:16 AM MDT

Texas state inspectors in El Paso have found thousands of safety violations in trucks coming from Mexico, including bad brakes, flat tires, axle problems and defective lights, statistics show.

Between fiscal years 2007 and the first six months of 2011, the state conducted 1.2 million inspections at state facilities by the Bridge of Americas and the Zaragoza International Bridge. The state fiscal year runs from Sept. 1 to Aug. 31.

During that period, officers found a million violations, and placed 31,519 trucks and 625 drivers out of service. Many trucks had multiple violations.


Read full story in the El Paso Times' Sunday print edition or the El Paso Times e-Edition.
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I think the full story will be online tommorow. I'll follow up and post it if it is. JD2
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http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_18725138

And thanks to our government, these trucks will be traveling throughout the U.S.

I wonder how much it costs the taxpayers to have these inspections done?

The madness in DC is off the hook.

I started to say that wait until there are many accidents caused by these trucks and maybe they will stop the program, but there are too many Americans killed now by cars driven by illegals and there is nothing done about that. so.........

Longer version.

One Million Safety Violations Found on Mexican Trucks Entering U.S. over Last 4 Years

Published at 6:01 pm, August 21, 2011

Between 2007 through the first six months of 2011, Texas state inspectors have found one million safety violations on trucks coming in from Mexico and entering the U.S.

Mexican trucks that are entering the U.S. at the Texas-Mexico border are inspected at the Bridge of Americas and the Zaragonza International Bridge – both border bridges. At those locations state inspectors conducted 1.2 million inspections in which 1 million violations were found.

The safety violations range from broken tail lights to bad brakes to flat tires. The most severe violators resulted in trucks and drivers being taken out of service. In that four year period 31,519 Mexican trucks and 625 drivers were taken off the road and not allowed to entered the U.S.

Earlier this month the Department of Transportation approved a new cross-border deal allowing Mexican freight trucks onto U.S. highways after 15 years of dispute and a lingering issue of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The safety violation records in the 2007-11 report pertains to short-freight hauling which only allows Mexican trucks to travel 25 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border.

http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com ... .-ov/9772/

Article immediately above added to Homepage--

http://www.alipac.us/article-6521--0-0.html

THE WHOLE ARTICLE.

Border crossing: 1 million violations cited in Mexican trucks

By Diana Washington Valdez / El Paso Times
Posted: 08/22/2011 09:16:49 AM MDT

Oscar Olivas, an Inspector 4 of the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement program of the Texas Department of Public Safety looked underneath a tractor-trailer rig that entered the U.S. at the Zaragoza Port of Entry Friday. Rudy Gutierrez/El Paso Times Texas state inspectors in El Paso have found thousands of safety violations in trucks coming from Mexico, including bad brakes, flat tires, axle problems and defective lights, statistics show.

Between fiscal year 2007 and the first six months of 2011, the state conducted 1.2 million inspections at state facilities by the Bridge of Americas and the Zaragoza Bridge. The state fiscal year runs from Sept. 1 to Aug. 31.

During that period, officers found a million violations, and placed 31,519 trucks and 625 drivers out of service. Many trucks had multiple violations.

"Taking trucks out of service means they were not allowed to proceed beyond the state inspection stations," said Capt. Jessie Mendez, who oversees the border truck safety inspection program for the Texas Department of Public Safety/Texas Highway Patrol. "They are not allowed to go onto the streets of El Paso."

The reasons that trucks were sidelined included brakes that were out of service, flat tires, defective stop lamps, improper axle position, improper torsion bar, damaged or leaking brake hoses, and air suspension pressure loss.

Drivers can be placed out of service for violations such as driving without their prescription eyeglasses and driving more hours than allowed.

"We consider any safety violation to be serious," Mendez said. "Many of the trucks are fixed on site or are towed away for repair."

Officers will issue warnings or tickets, and fines for violations can be as much as $500.

Tickets can be contested at justice of the peace courts.
State Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, said the number of violations for the trucks from Mexico is in line with U.S. industry standards.

In addition, the trucks undergo inspections in Mexico and the United States before hitting the streets.

"They are either no worse than U.S. trucks or better in some cases," Pickett said.

The trucks enter the state inspection stations after clearing inspections by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the international bridges.

Mendez said he expects the volume of trucks to increase once the U.S. federal government begins the new cross-border trucking program.

Last month, U.S. and Mexican officials ended a dispute involving the transportation provision of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement and announced that Mexican trucks that qualify for the program will be allowed to travel into the interior of the United States.

The trucks must comply with the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and must be equipped with electronic monitoring systems to keep track of hours of service.

Officials at the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in Washington, D.C., said Friday that the U.S.-Mexico long-haul, cross-border trucking program is expected to begin within 30 to 60 days.

Although cross-border trucks are inspected by federal officers, the federal regulations do not mirror the state's safety standards, which are more rigorous for some aspects of truck safety. Texas has the authority to sideline trucks that do not comply with its safety standards.

"Some truck drivers said they welcome the state inspections because their companies won't make the repairs unless they are cited," Pickett said.

Mexico's Camara Nacional de Autotransporte de Carga in Mexico City, which has lobbied for years for the United States to allow Mexican trucks to travel beyond the 25-mile border zone, has not focused its efforts yet on the issue of multiple inspections, said Ivan Lugo, spokesman for the association.

Mendez said his state truck safety inspection staff is required to meet with Mexican counterparts at the Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transporte once every three months in different border cities to coordinate activities and discuss problems. He also said the states of California, Arizona and New Mexico have their own safety inspection programs for trucks from Mexico.

"I understand that the Mexican trucks also undergo inspections in Mexico, but I don't know where," Mendez said.

Pickett said that despite the multiple inspections, the wait times at the El Paso international bridges is not as big a problem for commercial trucks as it is for regular commuters and pedestrians.

"The wait time for the trucks is half of what it is for cars and pedestrians," he said.

According to this year's final "El Paso Regional Ports of Entry Operations Plan" by Cambridge Systematics, " typical peak period wait times at the Bridge of the Americas already exceed two hours for passenger traffic and one hour for commercial vehicles during average days."

Pickett said he would like to revisit the state's truck safety inspection program for the purpose of streamlining the process, but only if it makes sense to do so and if there is a willingness on the part of the U.S. federal government for greater coordination.

El Paso is the only Texas border city with permanent border safety inspection stations. Other inspection sites are temporary but could become permanent in the future.

"If we find that the state inspection sites at the border are still needed, then we will keep them," Pickett said.

Diana Washington Valdez may be reached at dvaldez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6140.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_18730939? ... st_emailed