OOIDA is nothing if not persistent. Just over two weeks after A D.C. District court judge denied OOIDA’s attempt to mandate a closer look at the cross-border trucking program, they’re back up and at it again. And they just got two new reasons to try and kill this program: A hazardous HazMat company and a deadly fireball.
The last argument that OOIDA presented was that safety and enforcement standards for Mexican carriers are lower than they are for American CDL holders. While anyone who’s hauled in Mexico (or anyone who has read the safety requirements) can tell you that this is absolutely true, the judge ruled that the standards for Mexican drivers “would provide a level of safety at least equivalent to the American standards taken as a whole.”
This time the argument is a bit different, but still along the same lines. While American drivers are required to receive medical certification from an FMCSA-approved medical examiner, there is no such stipulation for Mexican drivers. This would theoretically make them more dangerous to have on America’s roadways.
All of these arguments are happening at a time when new Mexican carriers are still applying to be a part of the program. Just this week a new carrier, Servicio de Transporte Internacional y Local, has applied to be a part of the program. If approved, STIL would be the largest fleet – 20 trucks – to be approved so far. Their safety record is far from exemplary. The FMCSA completed a compliance review in February that found five violations including allowing a driver to operate a vehicle before a negative pre-employment controlled substance test result was returned; not maintaining an accident report for three years following an accident; failing to make drivers give them a list of traffic violations every 12 months; failing to require drivers to make records of duty status; failing to maintain completed inspection forms for 12 months after inspection dates.
Despite these violations, the FMCSA said they “did not rise to the level of critical violation.” STIL hauls hazardous materials.
To top it all off, as if to punctuate the whole situation, on Tuesday a tanker truck exploded just outside of Mexico City killing 23 people and wounding many more. According to reports, the truck was speeding and crashed into several cars and houses before exploding on the highway. CNN reports that at least 100 residents lost their homes, 45 houses were damaged, and 16 vehicles were destroyed.
Next Story: Trucker Rear-Ends Another Trucker And Gets Awarded $1.1 Million
Source: overdrive, overdrive, landline
Image Source: cnn
Heck, who cares about safety when we can start paying drivers third-world wages?
that’s what most U.S. carriers are already paying
In Chicago companies average cdl driver makes over $1500 per week (in my company driver makes $1700 average per week).
And what company is this ????????? Give us a name and phone # and address to this company !!!!!!!!!!! I’ve never heard of that kind of $$ for a company driver ?? Yes it should be that much but as we all know it isn’t there !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow, that would be over 75,000 a year. We still waiting info. O wait those restaurant food and supply delivery drivers do make that. And they bust their tail for every penny of it.
you bet–I do and have done anywhere from 1800-2200 -A WEEK–if you make any less then 1500 a week –find another job–any less then that I would not raise the hood or kick the tires–heavy haul for 34 yrs.–what their payin wannabees nowadays I was makin 30 yrs. ago–grow a pair and stand up to the ripoff mega fleets
Hell, Congress, dot, ooida, the media and the general public don’t have any idea how things are done in Mexico. I live on the border in el paso so I see issues of all kinds because of Mexico. Things are actually way worse than anyone really knows. Maybe Congress and the law makers should live down here for a while and spend sometime at the international bridges to see how bad Mexican trucks and trucking are altogether.
START Paying third world wages?? Hell, the industry has been paying third world wages for years already.
CDL drivers often make more money then owner operators. You just gotta work for the right people, there is plenty of OTR work in Chicago paying over 40 cents per miles
Thats the point OTR drivers may make a good wage as you say but look what they have to do to get it I used to be an OTR driver and I was away from home for 3 weeks at a time with 4 days home time thats a lot of time to be away from your family and just getting $1400-$1700 a week so in my opinion as stated above the wages for the time on the road isnt cutting it.
Really, that may be the exception, don’t know about the rule. I pull a hazmat tanker most of the time for an Iowa based co. Only been a driver 6 years, almost 5 as O/O, and truck is paid for. I’m set up as Sub S corp., receive paycheck, paid vacations, paid holidays, self directed 401k, and contribute to a Roth IRA personally. I also pay for the health insurance, vision, and dental for myself and my wife from that income. Business revenue last 4 yrs. average 185k, and profit is over 1k per week. I realize I’m fortunate and terminal 21 miles from home, primarily load out of the town I live in, very convenient.
We have co drivers make 50k and up, business wise profit is what they work for gross in a year. We average just over 120k paid miles, and I make it home for most of every w/e 45 of the 48 weeks I work, sometimes getting 3 or 4 days off.
I would like to talk about driving for you.
Ur darn right that’s waht they want.
Another example of government’s inability to solve problems. Industry accreditation would be so much better.
This entire matter (Cross border trucking) will somehow be wrapped up in the “immgrationn reform” BS that’s sliming its way thru Congress and we’ll likely end up with it eventually passing. The agenda in DC is tilted that way, regardless of what the rest of the citizens desire.
Money talks and crap walks and we’re about to be led on a a stroll down the road…….
U. S should stand up !! and “not” purchase _any_ products related to the company’s that can’t abide by our requirements for a safe driver.
Stand up to it?????? We’ve sent our raw products and jobs over there because the labor is cheaper. What do you think is being shuttled back and forth? The raw products we haul to the border and the finished product back. Next time you buy something look to see where it’s made – most likely China, India, or Mexico. If we’re not hauling to the border and back we’re hauling it to the port and back.
That is not the obummer governments way. Treat us like crap and give them what ever they want. We stand up and gets his pen out and writes a exec order, ….end of stand up. We all sit and write our comments here, but in reality, it’s going to continue and probably even get worse. Not one of our glorious political leaders gives a crap. they can’t even go to lunch and not fight over the menu. SO don’t look for help from them
Just lost my driving job to a mexican because he would run over HOS. Probably paying him less to. If that amnesty bill passes, it’s only going to get worse!
Good thing no drivers here run over their hours (Have you by chance ever visited the forum here?) I’m calling BS on this one..
Real easy use the “whistle blower act” turn the company in to fmcsa.
I would like to see 1400 to 1700 a week from a trucking company here in Florida!
Anyone who thinks using one accident in Mexico City as proof that Mexican trucks are all bad are either simple minded bigots to be written off… Or have never been in the industry, have live a protected life or have never been near any of the port cities, coal country, ag operations or several other American trucking segments where the rules mean nothing and the equipment is held together with bubble gum and bailing wire.. Just admit that we do not need to have the competition and that you want American trucking companies protected from any competition because THEY along with their willing accomplices (super truckers) have cut each others throats and worked for free for so long that they do not have anything left to cut.
I’m sure the new laws caused Mexican carriers to update their equipment. Many US drivers won’t deliver in Mexico so Its good to have them. Still, I have fond memories of going to
Lorado, texas. Around six o’clock a.m. I would see this old, beaten up red truck cross the border to deliver near me. I gasped looking at it. I didn’t think it would make another 10 feet before the wheels fell off, or the poor truck would just die in the road. It smoked, wheels wobbled so badly it had six inches of waves back and forth. No headlites, just cab lights. I swear I would have taken bets which block it would stop running. Yet, it didn’t die. It would make its delivery every day, and afterward it would creep back across the border where it came. I delivered twice a week to Lorado, and every month tha5 old truck was th ere.
congress DOESN’T CARE theregetting paid off to look the other way and it isn’t going to stop anytime soon. Best government money can buy
Company drivers making more than o/o ? This info must have come from a company driver who does not know a def tank from diesel. I lease my truck and net 41% more than a company run of the mill steering wheel holder. I even lease 3 other trucks from the company and pay those drivers .3 cpm more than the company does and a fuel bonus to boot !!!
I have been o/o otr for 15 years. while doing a drop/hook at the shipper. A 23 year old driver stopped to help me ! I was under my trailer at the time. The trailer had been dropped with the tandems ALL THE WAY UP. and with the wind guards on the trailer could not reach the pin to pull it. so we got to talking , he also gave me a little one on one with our new q-com/e logs! this just proves you can never stop learning!
My husband and I have been in the trucking industry since 1970. We know the laws ,keeping logs, health card, ins.,drug testing, ect are very important for our safty has wil has others.
I would hate to meant a Mexican truck headed toward a family know that the the standereds are not like US Citizens are crash into the car killing this family due to the fact they are NOT made to have thier trucks up to standers with NO drug testing.
We meant them all the time on the hwy. with ragged trucks,bad tires, you could go on and on but the fact of the batter the US dosn’t care,,they should be made to have even strickter laws coming in to OUR country. This is America and I am very proud of it But get real stand up for whats right.
Born and raised here, I have visited Mexico all my life (I’m 65).
There are two factors in considering the suitability of Mexican drivers and thier equipment to drive in this country that I have never heard mentioned.
First is the culture of Machismo. I have personally witnessed some of the most astoundingly reckless behavior on the part of Mexican bus drivers ( especially 2nd & 3rd class ) which earned them the wildly cheering applause of the people whose lives they have just gambled for the sake of thier juvenile self images.
Second is the utterly pervasive practice of the “mortida”, or the “little bite”. This refers to the small, sometimes tiny bribe, that is an integral part of every transaction. It is not looked upon as in any way dishonest or inappropriate. It is commonly regarded as “good manners” such as tipping your waitress. When the rules or regulations become awkward; when the imposition of the law is seen as excessive or “unnecessary” it is practically automatic for the citizen to offer the official a small donation, typically “un poquito por sus niños”. (‘A little something for your kids’.)
Imagine how the first works in heavy traffic or when some obnoxsious teenager decides to play chicken with a big truck.
Think about what the second issue means to the integrity of any paper, proof or certificate; from medical card, to inspection reports, to the driver’s license, etc.
I’m not saying that the existence of these cultural differences should necessarily make the cross border issue unsafe or unwise, but I am saying that any PC prohibition of thier mention makes any relevant discussion of the subject incomplete.
Been driving 18 years and every year it’s a battle to keep certified. I got the CPAP machine and even though I have consistently used it and give the doctor(the one required by most employers in the Nashville, Tn area) the data sheet to show that I do, it’s not enough. Next year and every year afterward from now on he wants a letter from a sleep doctor,not just the one I already have to give him from my regular doctor. That means a yearly sleep test that cost over 1500 dollars! I lost 30 lbs they still say DOT and insurance companies are pressuring them to not certify “unhealthy” drivers. If you’re not a perfect specimen then they are going to do their best to drive you out of trucking. Unless you’re from Mexico of course. As they make it harder on Americans and American companies to comply with more and more regulations then the same will happen with the trucking industry as did many others. American companies will move south of the border and operate from there. They force us to clear a higher bar of regs in our equipment every year, now even putting cameras in the truck pointed at your face! So if you see a old fat guy on the corner begging for a dollar then you’ll know they’ve succeeded in breaking me. And if you think that you’d be happy when us oldsters are gone, then you got some surprises coming.
Trouble with a DOT physical, tell them you drive for a Canadian or Mexican company and your worries are over. They would probably give you a card for 5 years
2 speeding ticket and your suspended, log book out and your out of service, not the mandatory 10 hours off and your screwed. These Mexican drivers (or companies) do what they want, and that’s that. They don’t have to go by the rules the way US driver do. The US gov. lets them slide and crushes us. Their thought being were trying to help a underprivileged country, make a decent living. What about the trucks that are held together by rubber bands or duck tape. What about the driver who can’t speak English? I’m going to retire in 6 weeks, and therefore I don’t care anymore. I USED to care, but there is no help when you deal with the Federal government, used to be, but not anymore…..
So this happened IN Mexico…..What would the FMCSA’s excuse be to “cover-up” for the Mexican driver, if this happened on this side of the border ? The American FMCSA is getting paid off by the Mexican government under the table to be able to do this…at the cost to the American trucker.
the FMCSA is making alot of good drivers NOT care anymore- my husband and I retired from trucking after MANY years of running the raods- and loving it- but now with all the new regs and bureacractic BS we- along with alot of others- have given it up- passed the baton to the “new generation” drivers- if the new gen drivers are stupid enough to continue to put up with all this new crap they are being fed- more power to them- truck drivers used to be a hardcore bunch of people who cared about their profession -cause it feed their familes and gave them pride in what they did for a living- but todays gen- they deserve all the BS the US government habds them-plus some-!! Cut your teeth on that steering wheel guys!!!!!
Theirs only one solution after reading every single comment here and respectfully cause of the fact I am new. Now what I’m about to say I WOULD NOT DO, but for the sake of interest and broadening the spectrum think about this. Go to work for the Mexican based company, or as an Owner Operator start a shell firm DBA as a Mexican Company. Its easy and solves problems. If enough of us tap into the field and show upstanding FMCSA standards it will in turn push the unrepeatable companies to the way side. Just a thought. Drive safe, for all of us.