Letters to the Editor: Border Opening, SafeStat Scores

These letters appear in the May 21 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

Border Opening

Opening the border to Mexican trucks will hurt the American trucker and thousands of owner-operators. By allowing Mexican trucks in, we will lose thousands of dollars in road taxes.

Who is going to make them pay what we do in taxes? We pay taxes for fuel, road use, heavy use, permits and inspections.

Also, if we open the border to Mexican trucks, who is going to police them? We will have to hire more Department of Transportation officers and police officers in order to control more trucks on the road.

Who is going to foot the bill?

There will be more taxes on American truckers to cover the cost of policing Mexican truckers, making sure they don’t bring drugs across or smuggle people across.

The American people and the politicians need to open their eyes and see what the real problems are going to be. A lot of Americans are going to lose their jobs if we open the borders. The Mexican truckers will drive our already suffering freight rates into the ground. They will start hauling freight for little or nothing. Most of their trucks are junk — scrap buckets.

Stephen Bradley
Overland Distribution Corp.
Mechanicsville, Va.

The problem with Mexican carriers’ operating in the United States is not only the safety issues but the fact that a majority of the shippers and brokers will offer special treatment to a Mexican trucker, as it is a common understanding that, to a Mexican national who earns a few pesos a day, a load paying 49 cents per mile is good money. Most shippers and brokers would rather pay a Mexican truck 49 cents per mile than an American truck $1.30 per mile.

This has been going on for years, and by opening the border to Mexican carriers, all you will be doing is destroying the American trucking industry. And let’s face it: Without trucks, America stops.

Joseph Walker
Independent Owner-Operator
Trans-National Specialized
Carriers Inc.
Glendale, Ariz.

SafeStat Scores

My company does quarterly preventive maintenance on all our trailers and ensures that all the trucks in our small fleet comply with federal Department of Transportation regulations.

During the past two years, I have had several drivers go through a DOT inspection in which, when they can’t find anything wrong with the driver, truck or trailer, the inspectors will find one light bulb out — such as an inoperable tag lamp during daylight hours or a marker light out on the driver’s blind side on the top corner of trailer.

My problem here is that this is a violation, technically, and it affects SafeStat scores. When the driver did his pre-trip, it was OK. Whatever happened to just giving a warning to the driver to get this repaired as soon as possible, knowing the truck and the trailer are in good shape with nothing wrong, other than the one light bulb that could have gone out at any time during that trip?

The states and the federal government have a responsibility to ensure that our highways are safe. I totally understand that. There are many trucks on the highway that are not safe. Their owners don’t even try — or care.

We do care; we want safe trucks on the highway. All I am saying is that there could be some understanding by individual inspectors who have the power to make or break a day for a driver and his company. A warning would have been sufficient for something
as simple as a light bulb being inoperable.

Joseph Moffitt
Fleet Manager
Nexus Distribution Corp.
Allentown, Pa.