The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has posted on the Internet a research study, Estimates of Commercial Motor Vehicles Using the Southwest Border Crossings. The study was conducted for the FMCSA by the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Based on three different analyses using data collected in 1999, the study shows that about 80,000 distinct trucks of United States and Mexican origin are estimated to have been used in US-Mexico cross-operations during this period. For the same period, these vehicles made an estimated 4.5 million border crossings. Estimates of the number of trucks crossing the border assist the FMCSA and the states to effectively allocate and place safety inspection and enforcement resources in the region.
In 2000, federal and state inspectors performed about 97,000 inspections of vehicles engaged in cross-border operations.
The three methods employing several data sources used to determine estimates included:
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US Customs Service information about user's fees it is required to collect for services provided at ports of entry.
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US Customs Service vehicle data in the Treasury Enforcement Communications System (TECS) related to port-of-entry, license plate number, and trailer identification for every commercial vehicle crossing into the United States from Mexico.
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Estimates derived from registration data collected by Mexico's federal transportation agency, the Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transportes (SCT).
Mexican commercial trucking companies currently can apply for authority to operate in 11 commercial zones associated with municipalities along the US-Mexico border. About 8,500 companies now have such authority.