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vandenberg
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5118
Registered: 6-21-2005
Location: Nopolo
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Mood: mellow
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Those weight sensors really don't make much sense. There's a big difference weightwise between a vehicle carrying one person to one carrying 4
persons. At 175lb per, the latter vehicle will weigh 525 more. You would have to have 50 some K 47's in the trunk ( at 10lb each ) with just a driver
and likely still not spark any curiosity.
Another government boondoggle.
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bcburt
Newbie
Posts: 12
Registered: 5-2-2009
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| Quote: | Originally posted by bajajudy
A friend just came south through San Ysidro at 9pm Thursday....only 3 lanes....2 hours to cross. The hang up was on the US side.
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I noticed the backup going south when I crossed at 6pm going north on the 5 last Thursday. Traffic was backed up all the way to Dairy Mart. When I
returned 4 hours later to cross back to Mexico it was still backed up to Via de San Ysidro. I got off the 5 and went over to the 805 where it was not
backed nearly as bad.
I crossed again yesterday. I was expecting a long wait coming back but I only had to wait a few minutes crossing into Mexico at 7:30pm. So does anyone
know what happened on Thursday?
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Dave
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6005
Registered: 11-5-2002
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They can count...
| Quote: | Originally posted by vandenberg
Those weight sensors really don't make much sense. There's a big difference weightwise between a vehicle carrying one person to one carrying 4
persons. At 175lb per, the latter vehicle will weigh 525 more. You would have to have 50 some K 47's in the trunk ( at 10lb each ) with just a driver
and likely still not spark any curiosity.
Another government boondoggle. |
People in cars. They got cameras all over the place. They know the wet weight of a particular vehicle. It ain't gonna be perfect but if they can snag
a car or two daily then the smugglers will get the message.
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k-rico
Super Nomad
Posts: 2079
Registered: 7-10-2008
Location: Playas de Tijuana
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MEXICO CITY - Try to bring a refrigerator into Mexico in the back of your pickup, and you are almost certain to get stopped by Mexican customs
officials.
Stick a couple of AK-47 rifles in your trunk, and chances are you'll whiz right through.
Now Mexico is owning up to its leaky border as it launches a new program to monitor vehicles entering the country. The goal is to weigh and photograph
southbound cars and trucks, in hopes of snaring more gun smugglers.
As the Obama administration promises a crackdown on the illegal U.S. weapons trade that supplies the drug cartels, Mexico is acknowledging
shortcomings on its side of the 2,000-mile border.
"Security concerns require a customs overhaul," Alfredo Gutierrez Ortiz, who oversees border checkpoints as director of Mexico's tax collection
agency, said in an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press. "Today, passenger vehicles really enter without being inspected."
Mexico checks only 10 percent of the 230,000 vehicles that cross the border each day, according to the federal Attorney General's Office. By weighing
cars to see if they are unusually heavy, and running license plate numbers through a database of suspicious vehicles, the government hopes to catch
more hidden contraband.
The United States has long weighed and checked the license plates of northbound vehicles, but the technology is new to Mexico, which is installing it
at all customs checkpoints. It was introduced last week at Matamoros, across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas, and should be added along
Mexico's border with Guatemala by year's end.
Such a systematic effort would be a big improvement: Inspections are now mostly determined by lights that randomly flash red or green. Frequent
travelers say it is rarely red.
Inside Mexico, strict gun control laws prohibit sales of weapons with calibers higher than a .38 handgun. Even to buy those, citizens must get
permission from the Defense Department.
North of the border, however, the cartels simply pay straw buyers to pick up weapons at gun shops, gun shows or flea markets, then resell the arms to
smugglers.
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/fromcomments/113401.php
Also, with the weight detectors, perhaps they'll uncover more stuff that they can collect duty on.
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
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| Quote: | Originally posted by k-rico
Also, with the weight detectors, perhaps they'll uncover more stuff that they can collect duty on. |
So...this turns into a revenue gathering strategy. It's all a bunch of nonsense. It would turn the border crossing into a parking lot the size of
Qualcom Stadium.
How could weight detectors be any type of indicator of what's in a vehicle? Will it identify each type of car and know it's manufactured weight?
Some people themselves weigh as much as half a tank.
It's all nonsense.....smoke and mirrors. A psycho-deterrent at best.
Who's paying for all this crap? The Merida initiative? Us? Who's getting fat off the manufactureing and sales of all this useless equipment?
This whole thing stinks.
One more thing....if this border delay is put into place, they can kiss tourism goodbye.
[Edited on 7-19-2009 by DENNIS]
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bajabound2005
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2762
Registered: 10-15-2005
Location: Punta Banda, BCN
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Mood: words cannot describe...
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The hang up is right at the entrance to the Mexican border. They are tearing out the old gates to install the new equipment. So where there what, at
one time 8 or so lanes crossing into Mexico - there are now 2,maybe 3. The far right ones are closed for construction and the far left ones are
closed because when you cross, the military is set up on the other side.
The back up seems to start at about 3:00, so you'll want to cross before then.
| Quote: | Originally posted by bcburt
| Quote: | Originally posted by bajajudy
A friend just came south through San Ysidro at 9pm Thursday....only 3 lanes....2 hours to cross. The hang up was on the US side.
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I noticed the backup going south when I crossed at 6pm going north on the 5 last Thursday. Traffic was backed up all the way to Dairy Mart. When I
returned 4 hours later to cross back to Mexico it was still backed up to Via de San Ysidro. I got off the 5 and went over to the 805 where it was not
backed nearly as bad.
I crossed again yesterday. I was expecting a long wait coming back but I only had to wait a few minutes crossing into Mexico at 7:30pm. So does anyone
know what happened on Thursday? |
Friends don't let friends drink white zinfandel.
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k-rico
Super Nomad
Posts: 2079
Registered: 7-10-2008
Location: Playas de Tijuana
Member Is Offline
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Just got back from my Sunday morning run to the states to collect my mail and drink coffee with my OB buds.
Left the house in playas de tj at 5:30 AM, used my shortcut to the Sentri lanes, I was through the border and on Interstate 5 at 5:50 AM.
Looks like construction is finished at the southbound gates. Sailed right thru with a green light coming home. Maybe more construction is to come, I
don't know.
Off to the seafood street fair at the beach now. Beautiful day, 80 degrees or so.
[Edited on 7-19-2009 by k-rico]
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
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| Quote: | Originally posted by k-rico
Looks like construction is finished at the southbound gates. Sailed right thru with a green light coming home. Maybe more construction is to come, I
don't know.
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Maybe because it's Sunday?
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nbacc
Senior Nomad
Posts: 770
Registered: 12-27-2008
Location: Northern California
Member Is Offline
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Take things like new sheets and dishes out of their orginal boxs and bags. We put ours in black trash bags and just stuffed them in where ever. We
also had bikes in the back that had to be taken out to see what else was in there......worked well. When we furnished our house in SF we took in
quite a bit but it was all "used" and most of it was. We declared it all and payed what we considered a small tax for what we took in. Nancy
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Bajahowodd
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9274
Registered: 12-15-2008
Location: Disneyland Adjacent and anywhere in Baja
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We went South at SY just over three weeks ago mid-day and there was no sign of construction. We pulled into the declare area because we needed new
FM-Ts. At that time, there were three vehicles being inspected by the Mexican authorities. So, I guess our timing was good.
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Bajahowodd
We went South at SY just over three weeks ago mid-day and there was no sign of construction. We pulled into the declare area because we needed new
FM-Ts. At that time, there were three vehicles being inspected by the Mexican authorities. So, I guess our timing was good. |
They just knew you were coming to the party and offered their best. It's nice, I would imagine, to be important. 
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Bajahowodd
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9274
Registered: 12-15-2008
Location: Disneyland Adjacent and anywhere in Baja
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Importante, Senor. Perhaps the next time we're down there, sometime this summer, we could assist you to your stool at Sharkeys. Drinks on us.
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bajachris
Nomad
Posts: 198
Registered: 3-29-2009
Location: San Diego, San Juanico, San Andres
Member Is Offline
Mood: Love Baja
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I have been pulled over to secondary at the boarder more often than normal. We also have a newer truck, and it seems to happen more often with me in
the the newer truck. My husband is right behind me in the old piece of crap Truck and never gets pulled over. However, one time it was only me (a
woman) and my large dog. My husband taking his time at a northern gas station in the other truck. They asked me to open my purse. Then they asked me
if I had $10,000. I asked them the same and laughed and said no way. I started to get in my car, realizing that they are not allowed to open my purse.
They insisted, so what could I do, so I opened my purse. They took one look at all the sanitary products and made me close it up again (sorry guys,
you can't do this!). Obviously I didn't have tons of money in my purse. How stupid would I be? But, I got the feeling that they would phone someone
ahead to rob me down the road. Just a feeling. Nothing happened on the trip though. But it definitely made me nervous. The moral: if you bring money,
hide it! Otherwise get money at a discrete ATM. I use Smart and Final (also buy Tiquilla cheap) or El Reloj store. The other moral, which we all know
is bring an older car. Obviously, not always possible. Be careful, it's still Baja. We've been down in June and April almost to Guerrerro Negro, and
have had no problems. The usual, the road is windy and always an accident waiting to happen. Slow down!!! Life's too short.
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shari
Select Nomad
Posts: 13052
Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: bahia asuncion, baja sur
Member Is Offline
Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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for the first time, at a checkpoint north of san igancio I got asked to let them look in my purse!!!
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Bajahowodd
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9274
Registered: 12-15-2008
Location: Disneyland Adjacent and anywhere in Baja
Member Is Offline
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Face it. If one of the primary goals of the checkpoints is to search for weapons, why wouldn't they be curious as to what's in someone's purse. That
being said, there still appears to be little consistency in the magnitude of the search from checkpoint to checkpoint. That is unless the whole
exercise is random. We had people open our vehicle, just to look briefly Southbound at San Ignacio. The only time headed South. Northbound, it ran the
gamut from "Buenos Tardes" and a waive on through, to opening luggage and poking though the clothes, and everything in between.
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