Senate Gets It Right on Mexican Long Haul Trucks
From the Full Story at the San Jose Mercury News:
"The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to ban Mexican trucks from hauling cargo on American highways.
The 74-24 vote was the latest in a series of roadblocks Congress has erected to thwart a federal pilot program giving Mexican trucking companies full access to U.S. roadways.
"I don't think there's any evidence that we have equivalent standards of safety," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who wrote the ban.
The Mexican truck program has drawn fierce opposition from consumer safety groups and others who contend that Mexican trucks are unregulated, dirty and unsafe."
Setting aside Immigration rifts and NAFTA considerations, the Senate has made the right choice for safety in the United States. The picture above is from a crash this week where a Mexican truck (by some reports not even licensed for the task it was carrying out) exploded on a highway, killing dozens and injuring over 100 people, many critically. The facts I've seen show that the Department of Transportation can barely inspect U.S. Trucks. It is improbable that they would be able to manage Mexican trucks as well.
The idea behind NAFTA was to pull up standards for others, not lower our own. This is a good result and should be applauded.
Labels: mexican trucks, NAFTA, news, senate
2 Comments:
I often agree with you and admire your intellect, but i think you are flat wrong on this issue.
Special licensing and training requirements only raise wages not safety. Shipping companies, while far from perfect, vet their drivers. Any trucker or cab driver who is involved in any substantial accident can expect unemployment to follow. Why? Not because of the government. Because that employee is costing the company money.
If your predictions of road safety issues were to actually surface the program could be killed. It is only a pilot program.
So why is this such a big issue? It is not about safety, it is about sovereignty. People at the John Birch Society or commentators like Micheal Savage believe that NAFTA is the first step towards a North American country and this Mexican truck issue is just emblematic of those concerns.
Sovereignty not safety.
Point noted, and I do concede that on this issue, I break wholly from libertarian ideals. But, having lived in Central America, I hold to the idea that the safety issue will unfold in short order on American highways.
Having said that, I am apalled to be in concert with the teamsters, which is a powerful argument for your side of this issue.
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