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Will opening the borders to more Mexican trucks and drivers to operate in the United States help ease the driver shortage?


Quote of the Day

"I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be flexible at all times."

-- Everett Dirksen (U.S. senator from Illinois, who served in office from 1951 until his death in 1969)

Drivers Sound Off

As part of a long-delayed provision of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiated between the United States, Canada and Mexico in 1993, the U.S. government recently introduced a pilot program designed to allow a number of Mexican trucking companies and drivers to operate in the United States. Up until now, Mexican trucks and drivers have been essentially confined to a limited buffer zone along the border in order to drop off and pick up cross-border freight.
Given the ultimate NAFTA-inspired goal of allowing the free flow of commerce (and the trucks and drivers that deliver the goods) throughout North America and given the number of Mexican nationals eager to drive over the road for less wages than their U.S. and Canadian counterparts, some in the trucking industry see the pilot program as perhaps the beginning of the end of the chronic driver shortage problem in the United States. Others, most notably U.S.-based driver and public safety organizations, see the pilot program as a threat to U.S. jobs, safety and security.

With that as a backdrop, Over the Road and Pro Trucker magazines put the following question to drivers:

What are your thoughts regarding the proposal to ease restrictions on Mexican trucks and drivers entering the U.S.?

Here are some of the responses:

James Reinking, 63, Fort Wayne, IN

Professional driving experience: 45 years

"I don’t want them in there. If they can prove they are adequate, if they speak our language, if they drive like they're supposed to and their trucks are safe, fine. But they should have to register. They shouldn't be allowed to just drive over our borders. I can't go along with that."

 

Marvin Stewart 57, Vinegrove, KY

Professional driving experience: 25 years

"I don’t think that’s right. They come in here, they don’t speak English, they don’t know how to drive, they have bad equipment, and the DOT ain't going to do anything about it. They are going to come in here and kill somebody. It is an issue, a big issue."

 

Don Chasteen, 60, Toledo, OH

Professional driving experience: 39 years

"I think it's B.S. They don’t follow the same rules we do. Safety is the biggest thing. Besides that, I heard on the radio that they'll come in here with trucks with huge fuel tanks on them. We're paying highway use taxes on everything we do, and they're going to come in here, go wherever they're going and not buy a dime's worth of fuel so they pay no highway taxes. That's not right. Safety is the biggest problem, though."

 

Charlie Chasteen, 55, Toledo, OH

Professional driving experience: 30 years

"Enough people are taking our jobs right now. We don’t need to lose any more. And of course, there's the safety issue."

 

Rodney Spath, 57, Findlay, OH

Professional driving experience: 36 years

"I think they're too free with letting just anyone run in and out with their trucks. It's not just the Mexican trucks and drivers. I see more Canadian trucks on the highway in Ohio than I do American trucks, and you know they're not just hauling in, unloading, reloading and going straight back to their country. They're out in the middle of nowhere, taking freight from us. Then there are safety issues, not so much with the Canadian trucks because they’ve got the same strict rules as we do, but the Mexicans. Where do you think all of our old, worn-out trucks end up? In Mexico."

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