Truckers Protest Dangerous Double Trailers Associated Press
go to original April 26, 2012

The wreckage of a tour bus after a collision near Alamo Temapache. At least 43 people were killed in the accident when a cargo truck crashed into the tour bus in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz. (Rueters)

UPDATE: The Communications and Transport Department said Friday it is lowering maximum weights by 4.5 tons, and limiting double trailers to 25 kilometer (15.5 mile) runs on secondary roads.

MEXICO CITY –  U.S. union groups complained for years about dangerous Mexican trucks. Now even Mexicans truckers are fed up.

Francisco Leyva of the Alliance of Mexican Transport Organizations says truckers are demanding clearer, fairer rules on vehicle weights and dimensions.

Leyva says loopholes allow some companies to run double-trailer trucks with 100 tons of freight on small, two-lane roads.

His association of independent truckers launched roadside protests Thursday with banners and placards denouncing the sort of double-trailers that have been involved in two recent accidents that killed dozens of people. One trailer came loose earlier this month and hit a bus carrying university students. A similar accident last week killed 43 bus passengers in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz.

Mexican officials insist such trucks would never cross the border.

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