Near San Diego's Otay Mesa border crossing, dozens of truckers led by the Teamsters mixed with anti-illegal-immigration activists. Business was uninterrupted, said Lt. Hector Paredes of the California Highway Patrol, which inspects about 3,000 trucks a day at the crossing."We're already inspecting Mexican trucks and will continue to inspect them the same way,"Paredes said."These trucks already haul product from Tijuana to San Diego.Now they will be able to go beyond San Diego."Critics such as Teamsters organizer Hugo Flores doubt that Mexican drivers will be held to the same rules on things such as the length of work shifts and drug testing."There are no means to regulate these guys. Bush has opened up highways to unsafe trucks,"Flores said at the Laredo protest."I don't want them sharing the roads with my family."Interstate 35,which stretches from the U.S.-Mexico border in Laredo north to Minnesota, is a major north-south artery though the country."Those guys run all the way here and all they way back without sleep," said Roadway Express driver William Scribner, of Laredo."They don't respect the laws, they don't respect the people."Scribner said he has seen drivers come across the border in two-seat cabs, then pick up two workers, meaning there aren't enough seat belts for everyone.
NAFTA requires that all roads in the US,Mexico and Canada be opened to carriers from all three countries. Canadian trucking companies already have full access to U.S. roads,but Mexican trucks can travel only about 20 miles inside the country at certain border crossings.The current pilot program is designed to study whether opening the U.S.-Mexico border to all trucks could be done safely.
To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah...