ANALYSIS: Safety scores questionable for some Mexican cross-border applicants

FMCSA records show that Transportes Unimex has a CSA Driver Fitness score of 100, a Vehicle Maintenance score of 90.2 and has in the past 24 months been cited for a serious violation in Controlled Substances and Alcohol.

By LYNDON FINNEY
The Trucker Staff

9/28/2011

WASHINGTON — Two Mexico-domiciled carriers that have applied for the cross border pilot project have what could be described as nothing less than exceedingly questionable CSA scores and another does not currently have operating authority of any type, according to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration records.

Since the Department of Transportation announced the currently proposed cross border program July 6, eight Mexico-based carriers have applied for OP-1 (MX) operating authority that allows a carrier to operate beyond U.S. municipalities and commercial zones on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Two carriers, Transportes Olympic and Grupo Behr, have passed the FMCSA’s Pre-Authorization Safety Audits (PASA).

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ADVERTISEMENT

THE RECENT INCREASE IN FREIGHT VOLUME MEANS NEW JOB OPPORTUNITIES ON GOTRUCKERS.COM. CLICK FOR MORE DETAILS.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The six other Mexico-domiciled carriers that have applied for OP-1 (MX) authority include Transportes Unimex of Reynosa, Tamaulipas; Alfredo Hernandez Rojas of Celaya, Guanajuato; Alejandro Moctezuma Arroyo of Octolan, Tlaxcala; Higiencos Y Desechables Del Bajio of Guadalajara, Jalisco; Moises Alvarez Perez of Tijuana, Baja California; and GCC Transporte of Cd Juarez, Colima. All applicants must pass a PASA before they can participate in the pilot project.

All but four of the 205 Driver Fitness violations involved a non-speaking English driver. There were two Transportes Unimex out-of-service violations in Driver Fitness, one for operating a commercial motor vehicle without a CDL and one for the driver lacking a valid license for type vehicle being operated.

Among the 414 Transportes Unimex Vehicle Maintenance violations, there were 74 OOS violations, including 19 for inoperative required lamps and eight for brake tubing and hose adequacy.

A vast majority of the Transportes Unimex violations involved tractor-trailer trucks.

FMCSA records show Alfredo Hernandez Rojas has a Driver Fitness Score of 99.3 and a Vehicle Maintenance score of 94.5. There were no OOS violations among the 39 Driver Fitness violations. Neither were there any OOS violations in Vehicle Maintenance, which included 28 violations for no/defective lighting devices/reflective devices/projected.

A vast majority of the Alfredo Hernandez Rojas involved straight trucks.

FMCSA records show the Alejandro Moctezuma Arroyo currently has no operating authority, although previous Vehicle Maintenance inspections resulted in a 72.7 score. The carrier has been the subject of eight vehicle inspections that resulted in four OOS violations. The most serious in terms of violation weight were two violations for operating with tire tread depth of less than 2/32 of an inch.

The inspections likely would have taken place inside the commercial zones at the border.

The new cross border program itself has been the subject of support and criticism since it was announced.

Most recently, a report by the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Transportation released earlier this month suggested the FMCSA had generally complied with statutory requirements to implement the proposed pilot project, but said more action was still needed before the program could begin.

“We found that FMCSA has not identified the specific process it will use to comply with five requirements for conducting 50 percent of the pre-authority safety audits (PASA) and compliance reviews onsite in Mexico. FMCSA plans to abide by the law, but has not finalized where it will conduct the reviews,” the OIG’s office said. “We also found that FMCSA has not yet addressed certain issues for implementing the pilot program. Specifically, FMCSA has not (1) issued site–specific plans for checking drivers and trucks at the border, (2) established a system to verify driver and truck eligibility for the pilot program, (3) issued an implementation plan nor acquired electronic monitoring devices for use in the pilot program and (4) conducted pilot program training for inspection personnel at the border and within the United States.”

FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro responded to the report by saying that the agency had initiated steps to identify and implement the processes and systems listed in the report.

As a result of the OIG report, Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., who spearheaded the effort to kill the first cross border pilot program in 2009, sent a letter Sept. 16 to Ferro questioning how the proposed program could be implemented in light of the questions raised by the inspector general.

“Specifically, the IG found that FMCSA did not yet have plans in place to conduct on-site safety reviews in Mexico for at least half of participating carriers, as required by law; ensure that pilot program drivers and trucks are identified and inspected at each unique border crossing; verify driver and truck eligibility for the pilot program; acquire electronic monitoring devices for use in the pilot program; and train inspection and enforcement personnel at the border and within the United States,” DeFazio wrote.

And the agency has yet to transmit a report to Congress outlining the steps taken “to correct deficiencies,” DeFazio said in his letter.

Days later, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, responding to an FMCSA request for comments on Grupo Behr’s approval, questioned how the FMCSA could complete a PASA so soon after the OIG report was released and asked how did FMCSA “pass” Grupo Behr given publicly available information that suggests the carrier’s lone tractor is a 1991 model that is considered a “junker.”

In its comments about Grupo Behr, the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, a long-time critic of any cross border effort, cited the carrier’s safety rating for Vehicle Maintenance.

“The fact that the applicant motor carrier has higher than average percentages in recent inspections for both OOS orders and vehicle maintenance raises safety concerns,” the organization wrote.

In support of the approval, the United States-Mexico Chamber of Commerce noted than the U.S. government’s own studies repeatedly “have shown that Mexican trucks and drivers meet or exceed safety records of their U.S. counterparts.”

The chamber said that in May 2009 and June 2010, the Congressional Research Service told Congress “the safety of Mexican trucks in the demonstration project is now comparable with U.S. trucks.”

The Northwest Horticultural Council (NHC) praised the FMCSA’s effort to get the program rolling.

“We have no protest with the PASA information or data provided (in the request for comments),” NHC Vice President Mark Powers wrote in a letter to Ferro. “It appears to us your agency has been protective of the public’s safety and we strongly urge FMCSA to move forward with a timely final approval.”

The Trucker staff can be reached to comment on this article at editor@thetrucker.com.

Find more news and analysis from The Trucker, and share your thoughts, on Facebook.