Innovative commercial carrier training program launches in Mexico

SAN LUIS RÍO COLORADO, Mexico – An Arizona Department of Transportation program aiming to reduce commercial vehicle wait times at the international border offered its first training in Mexico this week to help Mexican trucking firms better understand and prepare for safety inspections.

Members of ADOT’s Border Liaison Unit met this week in San Luis Rio Colorado with trucking company leaders, drivers and mechanics. Their goal: making commercial travel across the border safer and more efficient by educating employees of Mexican trucking companies about what is required at ADOT’s inspection stations in Nogales, San Luis and Douglas.

“Having safe commercial trucks on Arizona roads not only saves the companies time and money, it promotes public safety in Arizona and across the country,” said Tim Lane, director of ADOT’s Enforcement and Compliance Division, which conducts the safety inspections. “If commercial trucking companies understand what our inspectors are looking for, they can make repairs before their trucks are on the road, when it is more efficient and less expensive than if they are stopped at ports of entry.”

Training sessions have been held this year in Douglas, Nogales and San Luis, providing both classroom instruction and demonstrations of how ADOT’s inspection stations work. In Mexico, the training will offer an International Border Inspection Qualification program, through which drivers can receive a certificate documenting their training to help streamline the inspection process and allow ADOT inspectors to focus on drivers who haven’t completed the program.

Topics include permits, weight limits, inspection procedures, brakes and securing loads.

The Border Liaison Unit’s outreach has a direct impact on international commerce and on Arizona’s economy, as the state’s trade with Mexico was estimated to be worth $30 billion annually and support 100,000 jobs in 2015. But most important, Lane said, is helping ensure that trucks are ready to operate safely on Arizona’s highways.

“The Border Liaison Unit and the International Border Inspection Qualification program are designed to make Arizona roads safer,” Lane said.