An Arizona Department of Transportation program that helps truck drivers in Mexico avoid safety inspection violations at the border is offering virtual training during the coronavirus outbreak.
ADOT’s Border Liaison Unit is offering webinars to truck drivers in Mexico responding to questions and concerns about emergency restrictions and exemptions for commercial vehicles at the border during the pandemic.
"So they know what is to come in the following two months. May and June are key for the trucking industry crossing the border," said Martha Rascon-Overpeck with the Safe Border Trucking Association in Nogales, Arizona.
She said so border crossings have been "pretty smooth" for commercial vehicles during the pandemic, but that it's important ADOT to continue communicating with truck drivers and transportation companies as they adjust to new border policies during the pandemic during the critical summer high season for produce imports.
The new training is part of a program that started in 2016 to help truck drivers cut down on issues that can lead to long, costly delays at the border. And while the virtual workshops started to tackle coronavirus concerns, ADOT now plans to continue the new format for cross-border training.
“The webinar was a huge success,” Officer Frank Cordova of the Border Liaison Unit was quoted as saying about the department's first webinar in an ADOT news release. “We’re looking to make webinar-based workshops a staple of the training we provide, as it allows us to reach even further into Mexico and the U.S. to continue educating the commercial industry.”
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