FMCSA Adequately Monitored Its NAFTA Cross-Border Trucking Pilot Program But Lacked a Representative Sample to Project Overall Safety Performance

Under the 1992 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the United States and Mexico agreed to long-haul cross-border transportation of cargo and passengers between the two countries. Congress prohibited the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) from processing Mexico-domiciled motor carrier applications to operate beyond United States commercial zones until certain requirements are met and a pilot program for granting long-haul authority to Mexico-domiciled motor carriers has evaluated the potential impact on safety. FMCSA formally initiated the pilot program on October 14, 2011, and ended the program on October 10, 2014. The Office of Inspector General's (OIG's) audit objectives were to determine whether (1) Federal and State monitoring and enforcement activities are sufficient to ensure that participants in the pilot program are in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, (2) the Department has established sufficient mechanisms to determine whether the pilot program is having any adverse effects on motor carrier safety, and (3) the pilot program consists of an adequate and representative sample of Mexico-domiciled carriers likely to engage in cross-border operations beyond the United States municipalities and commercial zones on the United States-Mexico border.

• Record URL:
  • https://www.oig.dot.gov/sites/default/files/NAFTA%20Pilot%20Final%20Report_508.pdf
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  Department of Transportation

  Office of Inspector General, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Publication Date: 2014-12-10

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Appendices; Tables;
• Pagination: 23p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Border regions; Compliance; Law enforcement; Monitoring; Motor carriers; Trucking; Trucking safety
• Identifier Terms: North American Free Trade Agreement; U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
• Geographic Terms: United States-Mexico Border
• Subject Areas: Law; Motor Carriers; Operations and Traffic Management; I73: Traffic Control;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01551343
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: ST-2015-014
• Files: TRIS, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Jan 27 2015 11:22AM