Texas-Mexico Cross Border Truck Operations: Are Mexican NAFTA Trucks Unsafe?

Although many trade barriers between the U.S. and Mexico were lifted with the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement, Mexico-domiciled carriers have largely been limited to the commercial border zones. Attempts to lift the border restriction have been opposed due to concerns about the safety of Mexican commercial vehicles. This paper attempts to answer whether trucks from Mexico can meet or exceed the safety standards set for U.S. trucks. The analysis compares inspection results on trucks inspected at Texas border safety inspection facilities from 2003 to 2006, comprising over 326,000 vehicle inspection records. Results show that Mexico-domiciled trucks have lower out-of-service rates than U.S. trucks at most Texas/Mexico border crossings. These findings help confirm the safety of Mexican-domiciled trucks. They also indicate that the border inspection program has contributed to improved safety performance for Mexican trucks, since this population of foreign vehicles, which once performed unacceptably on inspections, is now performing better than U.S. carriers.

• Record URL:
  • http://journals.library.oregonstate.edu/index.php/trforum/issue/archive
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/10461469
• Authors:
  • West, Jason R
  • Harrison, Robert
• Publication Date: 2008

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 101-114
• Serial:
  • Journal of the Transportation Research Forum
  • Volume: 47
  • Issue Number: 4
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Forum
  • ISSN: 1046-1469
  • Serial URL: https://trforum.org/journal-of-the-trf/
• Publication flags:

  Open Access (libre)

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Inspection; Inspection stations; International borders; International transportation; Trucks; Vehicle safety
• Identifier Terms: North American Free Trade Agreement
• Geographic Terms: Mexico; Texas; Texas-Mexico Border region; United States-Mexico Border
• Subject Areas: Freight Transportation; Motor Carriers; I91: Vehicle Design and Safety;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01123292
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 13 2009 9:40AM