First in 1995 the US and Mexico started a pilot program to allow Mexican trucks to travel throughout the US delivering loads brought in from Mexico.
The US trucks were allowed to do the same in Mexico, but safety and security concerns spurred the United States to bar Mexican trucks from being on U.
S.
roadways.
16 years later and Obama has agreed to allow Mexican trucks to operate beyond the 25 mile border zone.
This means if a load comes out of Mexico headed for NYC, then a Mexican truck will be able to deliver the load - not a US truck.
Even though there has been no indication from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) or the Department of Transportation (DOT) or from Mexico that any of these safety and security concerns have been addressed, if they can pass a so-called "safety audit" then they will be allowed into the US.
If this announcement was not bad enough, we have now learned that YOU and I are going to pay for the cost of each Mexican trucks to be fitted with Electronic on-board recorders (EOBR.
) An EOBR is an electronic device attached to a commercial motor vehicle, which is used to record the amount of time a vehicle is being driven.
The driving hours of commercial drivers - truck and bus drivers - are regulated by a set of rules known as the hours-of-service(HOS).
The HOS are rules intended to prevent driver fatigue, by limiting the amount of time drivers spend driving commercial vehicles.
It is an absolute slap in the face to American truck drivers that they will have to give up some of their freight lanes to these Mexican trucks, not only are American truck drivers losing the pay from these freight lanes, but they will be paying for the EOBRs on the Mexican trucks too.
This is NOT RIGHT at all and the question of "why" still needs to be explained.
Anne Ferro head of FMCSA explained that under the North American Free Trade Agreement, the U.
S.
cannot require Mexican carriers to do anything that U.
S.
carriers are not required to do, but the agency still must provide a way to monitor those carriers for compliance with both the hours of service rules and the cabotage rules that restrict freight hauling between points in the U.
S.

"We can't require them to purchase EOBRs because we don't require (U.
S.
carriers) to do it yet, so we propose to pay for those for a limited duration," she said.
"The duration would be until the pilot program is over - "probably three years" - or until the agency's proposed near-universal EOBR mandate takes effect ", she said.

So Mexican trucks don't do log books? Log Books are "cheap" and are what US Truck drivers are federally required to keep daily, of what they have done, where they have been, and where they are going.
This is all a "fancy and expensive" EOBR will do, and it is not even automatic - the driver still is required to input duty status changes manually.
"That program cost about $250,000," Ferro said.
"The budget for the EOBR program is between $500,000 and $700,000.
" The EOBRs have went up in cost? Wow! So, if FMCSA is going to buy these EOBRs for the Mexican trucks, are they going to buy them for the American trucks too? I'm guessing that answer is a no, as any of these regulations set forth on the American trucking industry - cost truckers money and jobs.
Ferro said the agency will publish its proposal for the border opening in a matter of weeks.
At that point the public will have a chance to comment, before the deal is made final.
And you can bet that will be done too.
In NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM should we (Americans) PAY FOR ANYTHING for this "deal.
" One last point to this whole mess.
"Immigrants" who come to the US to work are SUPPOSED to do it legally, I have no problem with that.
While allowing these Mexican trucks into the US, they are SUPPOSED to be inspected too, I don't have a problem with that either.
If things went the way they were SUPPOSED to, then I would not have any problems with any of this.
Why do you suppose I have a problem with all of this?