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Testimony

Date

Cross-Border Trucking Demonstration Project

Project ID
CC2008049
File Attachment

On March 11, 2008, Inspector General Calvin L. Scovel III testified before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation regarding the Department‘‘s Cross-Border Trucking Demonstration Project. We are required by law to provide an interim and final report on the demonstration project that allows a select number of Mexico-domiciled motor carriers to operate throughout the United States. At the 6-month point, we made the following three major observations: (1) The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has implemented plans to ensure it checks every participating truck every time it crosses the border, but it has not implemented a key quality control to ensure that checks are being done, despite a commitment to do so in the Department‘‘s report to Congress. (2) The limited data available at this time means we cannot draw meaningful conclusions about the safety performance of the demonstration project participants. Far fewer carriers and vehicles have participated in the project than expected. (3) FMCSA has taken actions to establish and enhance mechanisms for assessing adverse safety impacts from the project and for monitoring and enforcing safety rules for project participants. These actions include establishing and providing information to an independent panel and providing guidance and training to state officials.