Mexico‘s Business Coordinating Council (CCE) believes that a new regulation on double-trailer trucks is required and raised some considerations.
«They wanted to introduce an initiative; I think it affects competitiveness and the environment. There are no trucks because of the chip, they would have to make double trips and there are no operators now,» said Francisco Cervantes Díaz, president of the CCE, while participating in the 47th National Convention of the National Council of the Maquiladora and Export Manufacturing Industry (Index).
In this comment, Cervantes Díaz referred to one of several initiatives that seek to prohibit the use of double-trailer trucks.
Among these initiatives is, for example, the Bill of Decree that adds Article 50 Bis and reforms Article 61 of the Law of Roads, Bridges and Federal Autotransportation, which was presented by Congresswoman Lorena Piñón Rivera, of the PRI.
The business representative also alluded to the worldwide shortage of semiconductor chips and the shortage of drivers to operate trucks in Mexico.
«They would complicate our lives and that is where the organizations come in to defend these types of initiatives and these types of policies,» he added.
Double-trailer trucks
In general, longer trucks come with operational difficulties, such as requiring more time to overtake, having greater blind spots, crossing into adjacent lanes, turning into oncoming lanes on curves and turns, and needing greater distance to brake properly.
«I don’t want to say that regulation is not needed, it’s already in the Senate. We do need to regulate the part of double trailer trucks, especially that the drivers are trained, the speeds are limited for this type of trucks and that the weights are limited,» said Cervantes Diaz.
In fact, double-trailer trucks have an 11% higher fatal accident rate than single-trailer trucks, according to an analysis of truck size and weight: Phase I-Safety, Multimodal Transportation & Infrastructure Consortium, November 2013; Memorandum by J. Matthews, Rahall Appalachian Transportation Institute, September 29, 2014.
Cervantes Díaz expounded that this issue is just one case about how many government policies are regulated in Mexico.
«We are going to bet, and it is part of the CCE’s critical agenda, on the regulatory agenda,» he said.
