The safety issue is a red herring. Despite a ban on them dating from the 1980s, 800 Mexican trucks were allowed to continue operating in the United States. "A survey by the Arizona Republic newspaper found that those Mexican trucks allowed to operate in the U.S. have a superior safety record compared with U.S.-owned trucks," Daniel Griswold of the Cato Institute writes. The Transportation Department also found no safety problem with the trucks here under the new pilot program.
There are no trucking laws in Mexico similar to US and Canada. Those are "select" trucks under the program. Have you witnessed the trucks coming over that stay within the 20 mile area? I have. They are rolling pieces of crap!
Also those trucks in the program are associated with US trucking companies. One of the largest truck load carriers in the US "Swift" has one of those trucking companies. They are not your average truck coming over the border.
Another article with info on the safety record:
http://mexicotrucker.com/wall-street-journal-mexican-truck-stop
.....Earlier this year, the DOT analyzed the safety record of Mexican carriers in the U.S. from 2003-2006. It looked at the rate in which trucks received an “out-of-service” designation by DOT inspectors targeting companies with the worst records. The out-of-service rate for U.S. trucks was 23.5%, compared to a rate for trucks from Mexico of 21.29%. Mexican short-haul trucks operating in the border zone also had a better record than the U.S. trucks, with an out-of-service rate of 22.5%......
I think it's likely you are correct that there are no significant safety problem with the first 100 Mexican trucks. And I concede that, assuming that US inspectors enforce the standards for the trucks and don't stop doing so at some time, the trucks themselves would be OK.
I have a concern with future Mexican drivers that could be brought into the program. What is the maximum number of Mexican drivers could be allowed under the treaty eventually? The fact is that when the police in Mexico stop a driver, the driver pays the mordida and there is no record of the incident. If you don't believe me, ask a Mexican.
If the number of Mexican drivers increases to (e.g.) 5,000 they will have to bring in new drivers. I don't understand how they think they are going to evaluate driver safety when there are no real records. There are many bad driving habits that are very common in Mexico and are currently very rare in the US (although these are likely to become more common as more illegal aliens come in), for example:
Passing on a mountain road when the driver cannot see oncoming traffic (oncoming vehicles which are smaller than the passing vehicles traffic are expected to slow down or get out of the way if they can)
Drunk driving. We have too much of it here, but it's much worse in Mexico.