VietNamNet Bridge - In most provinces and cities there are “king” trucks that are under the guarantee of local officials, according to the chair of the Vietnam Automobile Transport Association.

A mobile scale station in the central province of Ha Tinh.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh, chairman of the Vietnam Automobile Transport Association, said that overloaded vehicles are not only damaging the road system but also causing inequality in the transportation business because the transport firms that conform to the rules suffer losses.

Thanh said that in most provinces and cities there are groups of “king trucks’ that are protected by local officials, forming interest groups which find ways to combat law enforcement forces and dodge vehicle weighing stations.

He praised the provinces that had detected high numbers of overloaded vehicles. He said the others did not find many overloaded trucks because they did not check many vehicles or only checked the vehicles with the proper loading capacity.

He suggested not only fining the drivers of overloaded vehicles but also the inspectors who do not detect overloaded trucks and set up weighing stations at toll stations.

Deputy Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Transport Thach Nhu Sy said that the chiefs of weighing stations are the Ministry of Transport’s inspectors and they are responsible for overloaded vehicles. But they do not have the right to stop vehicles for loading capacity checks.

"If the vehicles are overloaded but if the traffic police do not stop them for inspection, inspectors can do nothing," Sy said.

 He added that according to current regulations, the police are allowed to stop up to three vehicles for loading capacity checks at the same time. Sy disclosed that some provinces, for economic benefit, tolerate overloaded vehicles.

According to the Road - Railways Traffic Police Department, the police checked nearly 215,000 trucks in the first half of the year, imposing fines on 47,000 cases for overloading.

In April, the Ministry of Transport began tightening control over overloaded trucks, a factor that has emerged as the main reason of traffic accidents and serious damage to the roads and bridges.

The crackdown follows the death of a man on April 9 when an overloaded trailer transporting more than 100 tons of timber overturned in Dong Ha District, in the central province of Quang Tri. The timber crushed the 40-year-old to death.

Earlier on October 30 last year a 15.5-tonne lorry transporting 30 tons of cow pat caused the collapse of the Binh Cach Bridge in Chau Thanh District, in the southern province of Long An. The bridge was built to carry up to eight tons.

Over the last three months, to check loading capacity of vehicles, besides fixed scale stations, mobile weighing stations have been installed at localities to check container trucks.

According to regulations, if goods on an automobile exceed its loading capacity by 30 per cent, the driver will be fined VND2.5 million (US$120) and have their work permit suspended for 60 days.

If goods on the automobile exceed its loading capacity by 20 per cent, the driver can receive a fine of VND750,000 ($36) and have their work permit suspended for 30 days.

Overloaded vehicles will be moved to an appropriate place to unload goods before continuing on their journey.

Directors of police departments and directors of transport departments will inspect police work on weighing overloaded vehicles, and police officers who do not process violations according to procedures will have their wages docked.

Transport enterprises are responsible for disseminating information about regulations on load weights for vehicles to their drivers to ensure they obey traffic laws, said Quyen.

Tien Phong