[yoopr]

Truckers call for boycott of foreign-owned road
Union opposes tollway, Trans-Texas Corridor, Mexican drivers

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Posted: November 10, 2006

By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com



Truckers are being called on to boycott a decision by Indiana to lease a highway to foreign investment groups.

Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, OOIDA, has called for truckers to bypass the Indiana Toll Road, which has been leased to a consortium composed of Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transport, S.A., a Spanish investment consortium with ties to Juan Carlos and the ruling family of Spain, and the Australian investment firm Macquarie Infrastructure Group.

In an article on the OOIDA website, Spencer argues, "This is a way to send the message that as more and more roads are converted to toll roads the secondary highways get more and more of the traffic. If that's the life they want to live, they ought to be willing to embrace it right now."

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Spencer told WND the OOIDA is strongly opposed to converting U.S. freeways to toll roads owned by foreign entities. The group's opposition includes the Trans-Texas Corridor, the four-football-field-wide NAFTA Superhighway parallel to Interstate-35 which Texas Gov. Rick Perry plans to begin next year.

"The Bush administration is bending over backwards to accommodate Mexican trucks coming into the United States," Spencer said. "The whole goal is to get the absolute lowest cost of transportation, without worrying about important safety and security issues using Mexican trucks and Mexican truck drivers creates."

Spencer believes one of those security issues is terrorism.

"Worldwide trucks are the weapons of choice of terrorists," he emphasized.

The Bush administration, Spencer contends, is not taking seriously enough the risk of opening the U.S. to Mexican trucks.

"Who's going to check to see what's really in that truck? Nobody is going to check. That's the problem," he said.

Responding to the Kansas City SmartPort plan to establish a Mexican customs office in Kansas City, Spencer said: "We evidently have a lot of people in the U.S. who have lost their minds."

Spencer stressed that once a Mexican truck crosses the border, there is no real way to control where that truck ultimately goes.

"Just because you have a Trans-Texas Corridor and a Mexican customs office in Kansas City doesn't mean Mexican trucks have to stay on this route," he explained. "There won't be anything meaningful to stop a Mexican truck from going wherever the driver wants, once the truck is across the border."

When asked about enforcing a 20-mile commercial zone limiting where Mexican trucks can go in the U.S., Spencer was dismissive.

"There's never been any 20-mile commercial zone in Texas that the Texas Department of Public Safety enforces," he said. "Once a truck clears the Mexican border with Texas, that truck is free to go wherever the driver wants to go in Texas. The U.S. Department of Transportation's Inspector General's office has conducted numerous investigations which show that Mexican trucks go right on from Texas to other states throughout the U.S.

Spencer stressed that U.S. law enforcement will have no way to enforce U.S. law for Mexican trucks or drivers.

"In Mexico, there's no computer system at all to track commercial drivers," he noted. "If a Mexican commercial driver's license is suspended, there's no way to track it, here or in Mexico."

Spencer pointed out Mexico does not have the same medical requirements for getting a commercial driver's license.

"There are no hours-in-service regulations for commercial drivers in Mexico," he stressed. "There are no drug-testing regulations in Mexico.

The U.S. government says Mexican drivers crossing into the U.S. will have to comply with regulations, but Spencer believes the demand is not practical without a system in place with Mexico to verify enforcement.

"Who is going to do a background check on a Mexican driver?" Spencer asked. "All the Bush administration cares about is working with the international business owners who want the cheapest cost of truck drivers possible."

Spencer believes the tolls planned for the Trans-Texas Corridor amount to a new tax.

"The toll that the Texas Department of Transportation has been suggesting for a truck is 40 cents a mile," Spencer notes. "This is the equivalent of about $2.40 in new fuel taxes. What happened to free-ways? That was the whole point of the interstate highway system. Motorists were to get the benefit of freeways, not new toll roads."

The TTC toll for an automobile will be just over one-quarter of the truck tolls.

"These are tremendous new costs, and the toll revenue will be going to Spain," Spencer said. "The end result will be a drag on the U.S. economy with further damage done to the middle class."

Spencer agrees the Texas Department of Transportation will try to entice trucks to use the TTC by establishing high speed limits, maybe as high as 75 or 80 miles per hour. But he cautioned the state's DOT would force traffic onto the TTC once the highway is built.

He points to the "no compete" clause in the Cintra contract, barring the Texas DOT from making significant upgrades to parallel routes.

"You better believe that highway users will be forced to use the TTC toll roads even if Texas has to close down lanes on existing highways," Spencer said.

He stressed that the only winners to the TTC would be the "investment bankers who get fees up front, just like the politicians get their campaign contributions first, before any toll road is built."

Who will be the losers? The U.S. taxpayer, Spencer contends.

"The Mexican truck drivers will not be paying U.S. income or Social Security taxes, and Mexican trucks won't generally pay U.S. road taxes that U.S. truck drivers pay," he points out.

Spencer said his union sees the TTC as a one-way street.

"Don't expect American drivers will ever want to operate south of the border," he said. "Mexican law still currently prohibits American trucks from entering Mexico. No U.S. trucking company has suggested a desire to send U.S. trucks or drivers into Mexico."

The OOIDA currently has 145,000 members from all 50 states. Owner-operators in the trucking industry are independent small business people who own, maintain and drive commercial trucks they generally own. OOIDA members are typically small business truckers defined as companies operating six or fewer trucks, a segment that comprises close to 90 percent of the motor carrier industry.
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[Krzysztof]

I totally agree. Without a verifiable system in place its a disaster waiting to happen. Not so much the physical requirements to get their CDL's, but the no drug test and hours of service laws IMO will = alot of tired mexican drivers fallin asleep at speeds "up to 75 or 80mph".

I won't be drivin on no TTC.

Thanks for posting that it was good to read/know.

[Fozzy]

More bigoted half truthed BS.... from our "friends" at the unions... :roll:

The professional mexican driver have the same "right" to run down the highway as fast as some the American whitebread morons who already demand that "right" and more. :roll:

[yoopr]

Originally Posted by Fozzy

More bigoted half truthed BS.... from our "friends" at the unions... :roll:

The professional mexican driver have the same "right" to run down the highway as fast as some the American whitebread morons who already demand that "right" and more. :roll:

Blah Blah

[mikey4069]

Originally Posted by Fozzy

More bigoted half truthed BS.... from our "friends" at the unions... :roll:

The professional mexican driver have the same "right" to run down the highway as fast as some the American whitebread morons who already demand that "right" and more. :roll:

Who's the bigot ? i say stop all mexician trucks at the border . if they dont have to have background checks than why do i ? background checks not welfare checks . send them all back home !! :idea: :x

[Fozzy]

Originally Posted by mikey4069

Who's the bigot ? i say stop all mexician trucks at the border . if they dont have to have background checks than why do i ? background checks not welfare checks . send them all back home !! :idea: :x

You're really funny this early in the AM. Either you have lived a totally protected life, you are ignoring facts about the industry or your just someone who has not gained much experience in the field. There are far more good ol homegrown American scumbags who present much more danger to the US than any Mexican driver could or can. Wise up! Ever been around the ports? Coal country? There are rolling deathtraps hurtling down the roads driven by complete morons right AT other people and there always has been! To say that the Mexican drivers and equipment are going to add anything to that is just imbecilic

[Roadhog]

Here is an unqualified rough outline.....

We need to establish laws that require Mexican drivers to present a passport and some sort of qualifacations attachment showing they know basic English, pass our CDL requirements just like any U.S. CAD, and are fully insured to operate on our roads. I don't care if their HOS are different, while in Country, they follow the same laws as us. In return they also must allow U.S. CMV's to travel in Mexico...and tit for tat.
Failure to comply turns them around with a small administration fee. Caught violating with false or fake ID's and passport be a criminal offense with serious fines and imprisonment, and all vehicle and cargo confiscated.
While in Country, any traffic violations or traffic crimes be met with very harsh consequences.

Same deal with Canada. They want to up the restrictions on us too. I'm fine with that. I'm sure there are quite a few CAD's who fit proper qualifacations to cross boarders. The companies should also pay the qualified driver's additional border pay.
In Que'bec it is helpful to know French.

I know sometimes when I need to cross into Canada and back, it takes me extra time to go through the manifest process, crossing fee's, and face additional time being searched. So far, I do not get paid extra for any of that. It's BS.

Our Government OWE'S the U.S. driver respect by assuring our jobs are given fair consideration throughout. If we must share the roads with forieners and compete for work with them...no favoritism.

[PackRatTDI]

Originally Posted by Fozzy

You're really funny this early in the AM. Either you have lived a totally protected life, you are ignoring facts about the industry or your just someone who has not gained much experience in the field. There are far more good ol homegrown American scumbags who present much more danger to the US than any Mexican driver could or can. Wise up! Ever been around the ports? Coal country? There are rolling deathtraps hurtling down the roads driven by complete morons right AT other people and there always has been! To say that the Mexican drivers and equipment are going to add anything to that is just imbecilic

Finally, someone with some logic on this issue. I've travelled quite frequently in Mexico and the larger fleets, the ones who would be travelling in the US, operate new, well maintained equipment. Brand new Volvos, Kenworths, Internationals, etc with satellite communications/tracking. Other fleets buy used trucks from US fleets like Schneider and JB Hunt. The 9800 Cabover is really popular. The delapidated trucks you see in Laredo or El Paso are just their to shuttle trailers back and forth. Mexican firms aren't going to put their brand new trucks on "grunt duty" like that.

You'd be suprised by how many Mexican citizens living in Mexico speak pretty good English. A lot better than those living in the US, mostly because there aren't groups in Mexico like LULAC and La Raza who are trying to create a subclass of non-English speaking Hispanics in order to "champion" their cause while at the same time exploiting them like there's no tomorrow.

[yoopr]

Good Grief-You people even read the Article? The Gist of it was a Foreign investment group taking over and controlling Federal Highways(which were built by tax-payer monies and then turned into State Toll roads which ticks me off to no end).

[PackRatTDI]

Originally Posted by yoopr

Good Grief-You people even read the Article? The Gist of it was a Foreign investment group taking over and controlling Federal Highways(which were built by tax-payer monies and then turned into State Toll roads which ticks me off to no end).

As for the Indiana Toll Road, it was constructed prior to it being part of the interstate system. It's construction was PRIVATELY financed, it never used a dime of tax payer money. It was controlled by the Indiana Toll Road Commision from 1956 until 1981, when it was turned over to the Indiana DOT.