US and Mexican trucks to share highways

Calcutta News.Net
Friday 8th July, 2011

US and Mexican officials have signed an agreement which will see each country's trucks on the other's highways.

The three-year memorandum is based on a decision in The North American Free Trade Agreement.

The agreement had first been announced in March by Presidents Barack Obama and Felipe Calderon, who agreed Mexican trucks should have unrestricted access to all US highways.

While Canadian trucks are under no restrictions when they take to US roads, Mexican trucks have seldom been allowed farther than a buffer zone on the US side of the border.

Electronic monitoring systems will track how many hours the trucks are in service.

Drivers from Mexico will also have to pass safety reviews, drug tests and English-language tests.

There has been no decision on whether US drivers will have to go through the same procedure.

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