VietNamNet Bridge – More than 200 container trucks from national transport firms have been found to be using oversized tankers, a two-week long inspection has revealed.

A transport inspector uses a toll bridge to check an overloaded lorry. More than 200 container trucks from national transport firms use oversized tankers.

According to the Viet Nam Register Department, of the more than 16,170 container trucks operating nationwide, up to 75 per cent have expanded containers. Some have even been illegally modified to carry three times more cargo.

The recent crackdown was made by inspectors from the Viet Nam Road Administration from August 1 to 15. It was carried out in 13 cities and provinces.

Eight inspection teams focused on heavy trucks operating on national highways, at mines and quarries, ports - and even road projects.

Inspectors seized registration stamps and other papers from 78 trucks and required transport firms owning 54 others to convert to legal sizes.

Another 77 containers were ordered to be cut down to size before they took another job.

Nguyen Xuan Cuong, deputy head of the administration, said some drivers refused to show their papers or co-operate with traffic inspectors.

Some said they did not have registration stamps and that their driving licences and registration certificates had already been seized by traffic police, creating further difficulties.

HCM City tightens

HCM City has ordered traffic authorities to crack down on overloaded trucks.

Speaking at a city traffic review on Wednesday, Deputy Chairman of the city People's Committee, Nguyen Huu Tin, instructed inspectors from various departments to step up inspections of trucks on major roads and throw the book at violators.

More mobile squads should be created to apprehend violators, he said.

Between December last year and June inspectors from the traffic police and the Traffic Inspectorate checked 9,276 trucks and found 5,200 of them overloaded, according to the city's Traffic Safety Committee.

The Traffic Inspectorate said the task of preventing overloading by trucks is difficult since it includes finding suitable sites for installing weighbridges and unloading excess cargo from overloaded trucks.

Roads having weighbridges are often narrow and congested, and traffic jams occur when trucks are stopped for inspection, it said.

Truck drivers try to avoid places with weighbridges by using side roads.

Tran Thanh Tra, head of the Road and Railway Traffic Police Division, said: "We have asked traffic inspectors and district traffic police to penalise overloaded trucks."

Traffic accidents

In the first seven months of the year there were 2,531 traffic accidents in the city that left 396 people dead and 2,318 others injured, all down from the same period last year, Tra said.

The police plan to reduce accidents and punish traffic violators by installing cameras, he said.

They also plan to have 15-20 women officers patrolling and punishing violators during rush hour, he said.

Tin urged traffic authorities to soon carry out measures to ensure road safety, including by limiting the number of vehicles coming into and leaving the city during certain hours on a pilot basis, rerouting buses, and ensuring safety and order on pavements on 159 streets.

Source: VNS