Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times, January 21, 2008
Miguel had more reason than usual to be anxious as he drove his aging big rig out of the Port of Los Angeles’ bustling China Shipping Terminal.
By his own admission, his 24-year-old truck was dangerously overloaded. The suspension was shot, the tires nearly bald. Over his CB radio, other drivers barked warnings that the California Highway Patrol had set up several checkpoints nearby.
“I’m worried,” said Miguel, a 47-year-old independent operator who requested anonymity to avoid trouble with the law.
“If I get inspected, I could get put out of business,” he said, easing into traffic while scanning for the CHP. “Something real bad could happen at any moment on the road. I’m doing the best I can. It’s a vicious cycle.”
It’s also a way of life for many of the about 16,000 truckers who serve the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports, the nation’s busiest port complex. The truckers reflect the extraordinary rise in port traffic in the last decade and are key to what government officials and businesses hope will be continued growth in the future.
But keeping many of those trucks on the road is a shadowy economy of risk-taking drivers and discount mechanics, body workers, welders and junkyards—legal and otherwise—amid the refineries, murky channels and harbor terminals between Long Beach and San Pedro.
Profit margins for the independent operators who serve the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports are thin—so some, like Miguel, cut corners whenever possible.
For example, because a gauge showed that the weight of his load exceeded regulations—and because he views his truck’s brakes as untrustworthy—Miguel used the trailer’s brakes to stop the entire rig. The CHP considers that maneuver particularly dangerous—and illegal.
{snip}
It costs him about $500 to fill the tank with diesel fuel and roughly $2,000 a year for truck insurance.
Repairs have to wait
On the morning Miguel warily watched for the CHP, he had contracted to haul a 40-foot trailer to Rancho Cucamonga. The 80-mile haul, one of two such trips he planned to make that day, would gross him $320.
But the emergency repairs needed on the truck—it has 3 million miles on it, the equivalent of about six round trips to the moon—would have to wait.
Miguel couldn’t even afford to visit a lot just outside the gates of the China Shipping Terminal where truckers can get tread carved into their balding tires by llanteros, or “tire men,” before getting on the 110 or 710 freeways.
Tools of that trade include hand-held electric “hot knives” connected to pickup truck batteries. Regrooving, which is usually done by machine, is legal, according to California traffic codes, provided the tires are designed for it and their inner steel belts are not damaged in the process.
{snip}
But outside of China Shipping, the llanteros didn’t seem to mind when their blades occasionally sliced into the belts of their customers’ tires. Scraping out a fresh groove, a llantero simply said, “I groove tires for guys who can’t afford to buy new tires. I charge $10 to $12 per tire. Takes about 20 minutes.”
{snip}
In the meantime, low-income truckers in need of repairs gravitate toward a part of eastern Wilmington traversed by dirt roads and lined with repair shops—though “shops” implies that these businesses all operate out of buildings. In some cases, the repairmen work in open lots hidden behind corrugated metal sheets.
The shops are thrifty alternatives to dealerships. At JNJ Truck Repairs, for example, an engine overhaul goes for about $1,800. “A dealer will charge about $4,000 for an overhaul,” boasted JNJ’s owner, Juan Enriquez, 42.
{snip}
A block away, Mexican ranchera music issued from a boom box in a cluttered yard where truck driver Augusto Arroche, 32, of Long Beach waited for body shop workers to finish repairing a large crack in the hood of his 8-year-old rig. “A dealer would charge about $3,000 for this job, and take two weeks to do it,” Arroche said, as a husky brown guard dog named Mambo roamed nearby. “Here, they’re charging $700—and they agreed to let me pay $400 today and the rest later. At 3 p.m., I’ll be back on the road.”
{snip}
“There’s an inspection going just up ahead of us,” [Miguel] said, nodding toward a roadside CHP team eyeballing everything on wheels near an Interstate 110 onramp. “I can wait around until they leave, which will cost me time and money, or take my chances and hope they’ll just wave me through.”
He decided to kill some time. Miguel made a hard left turn and began maneuvering his massive rig along a circular route that took him over the Vincent Thomas Bridge, through neighborhoods and industrial parks. It took about 30 minutes to get back to the freeway onramp.
“They’re gone—fabuloso!” he said. “Today’s my day.”
Original article
(Posted on January 24, 2008)
Comments
The liberals are constantly complaining about the horrible pollution of the Harbor area due to these disfunctional trucks. But they also want California to become a Mexican state with these pollution spewing trucks.
Yes children, liberalism is indeed a mental illness. It should be in the DSM book.
Posted by at 6:21 PM on January 24
More thanks to the Bush administration which is responsible for this travesty.
Talk about sacrificing the safety of your own citizens to the demands of open borders and multilateralism! We can only hope that the next time such a truck crashes into a few cars, the cars are peopled by the individuals who make this possible in the first place. One can always hope.
Posted by at 6:41 PM on January 24
The John and Ken Show is the top rated talk show in Los Angeles. They covered this story and the previous AmRen story about folk medicines laden with lead. They are highly entertaining and have a million listeners daily. They are one the main reasons I live in LA.
Posted by at 6:53 PM on January 24
Mexicans ignoring laws and endangering our highways. Why in the world should that make the news?
Well if it’s the LA Times, they probably want you to send a donation to the law breakers.
Posted by Lucas M at 8:19 PM on January 24
As long as the only ones injured are politicians and their families, keep those trucks rolling!
Posted by GetBackJack at 8:21 PM on January 24
“I’m worried,” said Miguel, a 47-year-old independent operator who requested anonymity to avoid trouble with the law.
“If I get inspected, I could get put out of business,” he said, easing into traffic while scanning for the CHP. “Something real bad could happen at any moment on the road. I’m doing the best I can. It’s a vicious cycle.”
Another indication of the legacy of uber-NeoCon Jorge Booosh. ANYTHING TO HELP THE MULTI-NATIONAL CORPORATIONS. He could CARE LESS about this country or the people in it. To him, this country IS a corporation and he’s the CEO of it. Oh, and by the way Miguel, the “something real bad could happen at any moment on the road” would probably be the lives of others on it.
Welcome to the New World Order!
Posted by at 9:41 PM on January 24
In the name of higher corporate profits, many motorists will be slaughtered by these unsafe trucks. I recall talking to an American truck driver a few months ago. He told me that he is paid about 50 cents per mile to drive, while these Mexican truckers make about 12 cents per mile. He seemed worried that many American truckers will lose their jobs to be replaced by Mexicans because of the new “program” allowing Mexican trucks on the road. I agreed, and pointed out that in addition to lots of middle class jobs going away, there will be carnage on the roads. Miguel is probably a nice, hardworking guy trying to feed his family. But greedy Corporate America and their amen corner in Washington is responsible for the new and additional dangers on our roads from these old unsafe trucks.
Posted by Mike at 9:59 PM on January 24
Sounds like the well-known delivery/transportation company that I worked with in NJ. Managers do not have citizenship. They are not worried and do not feel obligated. Arrogance.
Independent contractors are all over the roads, driving under various companies names, especially third shift. (That should make it better. If the public never sees them, we can pretend that they’re not a drain on our way of life.)
Posted by GAonMYmind at 11:06 PM on January 24
“He seemed worried that many American truckers will lose their jobs to be replaced by Mexicans because of the new “program” allowing Mexican trucks on the road.”
____
He should be worried, because they will be. Basically all nonskilled and semiskilled blue collar workers are in danger of being replaced by illegals.
Posted by at 11:44 AM on January 25
>>>By his own admission, his 24-year-old truck was dangerously overloaded. The suspension was shot, the tires nearly bald.
A little overloaded? Tires nearly bald? Truck unsafe? No problemo, amigo. When Miguel hits a steep downgrade, his truck problems may be self-curing. Hopefully not taking an American sedan or two with him. But Miguel’s is not the only unsafe at any speed truck on our highways. There’s also Juan, Victorio, Pepito, Jose, and a bunch of their friends also on our roads, driving unsafe trucks. Now add the inevitable bottle of tequila (to ward off the chill of coolish nights) and you have a witches’ brew of a disaster waiting to happen. Especially if one of them hits a loaded tanker truck chock full with gasolino.
Then Lying George Bush will put his spinmeisters on the ugly scene. We’ll be told dangerous trucks are a minority… etc., etc. After the funerals, things will revert back to normal… until the next messy accident.
Hopefully, no one with a .22 would be nasty enough to take out a tire or two, on these Mexican rolling wrecks — calling it a public service. But there’s always a bright side to everything. Surely MR. FATWALLET, the overpaid CEO of the MegaBuck Corporation will go through his P&L report, chortling as he points to the sharp drop in transportation charges. The grateful chairmen of the board, subsequently voting Mr. Fatwallet yet another hefty raise.
Posted by Fed Up at 12:58 PM on January 25
Remember a few years ago when they deregulated the trucking industry.
Prior to that truckers were professional, there were few crashes, drivers made a decent buck, there was less pressure, truckers got to sleep, truckers did not need to drive 20 hours a day to break even, etc etc etc.
You can thank your politicians for what you got now, a colosal mess.
Posted by at 1:22 PM on January 25
Is it still legal for me to point out that the “United States” is quickly becoming a Third World country?
Posted by Sarge at 1:29 PM on January 25
they are going to have to cover up a lot of truck wrecks in the future, including and especially fatal ones involving u.s. citizens
Posted by dmz at 1:54 PM on January 25
Last Oct in 2007 31 big rigs crashed in a tunnel on I5 north of LA. Yet no one was blamed or charged for that accident and I have yet to hear of any investigation. I have to wonder if Mexican trucks were involved. Will the public get the truth? Don’t hold your breath.
Posted by Burr Hamilton at 3:57 PM on January 25
Letting Mexican truckers drive our roads and highways, like the open border policy — IS NOT MOTIVATED BY HUMANITARIANISM BUT BY GREED (PROFITS) for corporate and business entities.
Whether we’re talking Home Depot, WalMart, Target, or even the small businesses — they all want to cut their costs. By using the cheapest labor, cheapest services, cheapest manufactured goods they can get. If the final cost is American blood spilled, American lives lost or American careers and dreams destroyed — it’s like that joke of a Secretary of the Treasury, Henry M. Paulson told us on a taped interview on NPR Radio — “we’re a global economy now. So some people will have to make sacrifices, even lose their jobs… but it’s for the common (read CORPORATE) good!”
Posted by Fed Up at 5:31 PM on January 25
Prior to that truckers were professional, there were few crashes, drivers made a decent buck, there was less pressure, truckers got to sleep, truckers did not need to drive 20 hours a day to break even, etc etc etc.
My husband is a professional trucker and they cannot drive 20 hours a day, they can only drive 11 hours in 14 and then have to rest for 10. After 70 hours in one week they have to take 34 hours to rest. He makes enough money for me to stay home with our daughter without suffering so I would call that a decent buck.
Posted by Spartan24 at 6:52 PM on January 25
“Last Oct in 2007 31 big rigs crashed in a tunnel on I5 north of LA. Yet no one was blamed or charged for that accident and I have yet to hear of any investigation. I have to wonder if Mexican trucks were involved. Will the public get the truth? Don’t hold your breath.
Posted by Burr Hamilton at 3:57 PM on January 25”
I’ll see hat I can find out. I have a friend who is a CHP officer. If the report is public, he can get it.
Posted by Wild Eyed Charlie at 7:36 PM on January 25
So how exactly is globalization supposed to benefit the US again?
Posted by Dark-Star at 11:07 PM on January 25
“Protectionism” is a word long demonized by business and government as if it were an evil concept. What exactly is being protected? Our futures, our communities, our jobs, our economy, our culture, our history, our language and our sovereignty. How can this be bad? And what is the opposite of “Protectionism”? “Globalism”! And what is “Globalism”? A free for all mad scramble for the cheapest foreign labor in the pursuit of corporate profits at the expense of our futures, our communities, our jobs, our economy, our culture, our history, our language and our sovereignty…
Posted by at 8:08 AM on January 26
All tyres are built up in layers. It is not new technology to include a different colour into the layer directly under the tread or have a ‘bar’ across the treads to indicate level of wear. As for the ‘tire men’, if their whereabouts are known, just arrest them and put them out of business. CB radio can be monitored, so no excuse there. We in UK have similar problems with lorries from eastern europe. They side-swipe UK drivers when overtaking on our Motorways because they don’t have suitable RHD mirrors fitted and often drive on the wrong side of the road. They have no concept of safe driving hours, vehicle maintenance or the ability to read English road signs. The police have set up traffic monitoring points to inspect lorries and to impound unsafe vehicles along with their loads. Although not every lorry is stopped, of those that are, well over 50% fail basic road safety tests. USA have only mexican trucks to worry about, how about us poor Brits with half of europe and 50 different languages, the human rights act and no originating national vehicle inspection procedures. I would detain EVERY lorry for inspection.If it was unroadworthy, crush it or let it wait until the cargo rotted, then send it back from whence it came. It would not take long for the message to strike home.
Posted by Yorkshireman at 8:57 AM on January 26
“it’s like that joke of a Secretary of the Treasury, Henry M. Paulson told us on a taped interview on NPR Radio — “we’re a global economy now. So some people will have to make sacrifices, even lose their jobs… but it’s for the common (read CORPORATE) good!””
Yes, and some will lose their lives. I wonder how Mr.Paulson would feel if HIS wife or child were killed by one of these Mexican truckers allowed in under the new “globalist economy”, because everyone injured or killed will be somebody’s spouse, child, etc. I hate to be mean but if somebody has to get in a wreck as the result of this, let it be Mr.Paulson and his elitist ilk, not some average citizen!!!!
Posted by KC at 2:29 PM on January 26
When thirty years ago I drove for a company that manufactured and delivered it’s own product truck safety inspections were so rigid in CA that the smallest infraction would result in the truck being put out of service. Delays in CA became so costly to us that we ceased going there, preferring to drop our product at a trucking company located in Portland and paying them to transport it on to CA. It was the only state we avoided. As much of CA transportation now resembles that of Mexico it can only be a matter of time before we read about a 55 passenger bus with 78 Mexicans on board going off the highway somewhere in CA.
Posted by at 6:34 PM on January 26
I drove trucks for fifteen years and can tell you that no owner-operator, except for people in specialized niches like permit hauling and ordnance, is driving completely legal. They haven’t since deregulation. The new hours of service have not changed it in the least.
Companies want to contract owner operators because they know the OOs will dodge the law and take the heat whereas company drivers won’t.
My opinion is we need to reregulate trucking and make the majority of freight go back to LTL union carriers or the railroads.
Posted by at 9:42 PM on January 27
Of all of Bush’s disasterous policies, the idea of having
Mexican trucks on our freeways, with no inspection of either
the truck or the driver, ranks right up there.
Posted by Larry at 9:52 PM on January 28
This entire fiasco regarding Mexican trucks should be proof positive to any sane American that George Bush Junior is a liberal. A corporatist GOP liberal, but a liberal nevertheless.
I have said it before, but it bears repeating. Having an “R” next to your name does not magically turn you into a conservative, or a protectionist.
In regards to who will become our NEXT president, John McCain is cut from the same left-wing Republican cloth, and is fundamentally similar, policy-wise, as his probable general election opponent, Hillary Clinton. Both are open-borders fanatics who would do nothing to stop the flow of Mestizos coming north from Mexico.
Posted by Old Victorian at 11:58 PM on January 29
