Mexican trucks operating in Canada ‘technically possible, highly unlikely’

OTTAWA (July 21, 1999) — Canadians for Responsible and Safe Highways fanned concerns yesterday that trucks from Mexico might be operating in Canada, raising “the prospect of sharing Canadian roads with trucks from a country with a different culture and language that may have more lax safety standards and fewer resources to deal with safety,” the group said.

CRASH is an Ottawa-based organization notorious for its critical stance toward the trucking industry.

Last month, U.S. Dept. of Transportation inspector general Kenneth Mead reported that trucks operated by 68 Mexican companies were found to have strayed beyond boundaries established by NAFTA and into at least 24 states last year, as far north as Washington, New York, and the Dakotas. Mexican trucks are not allowed to drop or pick up loads outside commercial zones, which extend five to 20 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border.

It’s possible but highly unlikely that Mexican trucks operating illegally in the United States have crossed into Canada, said officials with Canada Customs and the U.S. DOT.

Mexican truckers are allowed to transit through the United States to Canada, however, as long as the carriers do not do business in the U.S. and meet insurance and other financial requirements for operating there. Upon reaching Canada, Mexican trucks, loads, and drivers would be subject to the same standards and conditions as any other crossing the border into Canada.

A DOT official in Washington, D.C., who oversees international affairs called such situations “technically possible, but highly unlikely.”

“I’ve never seen Mexican trucks cross here,” added a Revenue Canada customs supervisor working at the Peace Bridge Plaza in Fort Erie, Ont.

The DOT estimates that 11,000 Mexican trucks cross the U.S. border each day. Last year, Mead reported that 44% of those vehicles inspected were taken out of service due to serious safety concerns.

The U.S. Congress asked Mead to investigate the 68 trucking companies, analyze their actual safety performance, and determine what the DOT intends to do about the Mexican incursions.