VietNamNet Bridge – Vehicle inspectors found 958 dump trucks violating Ministry of Transport (MOT) capacity regulations nationwide.

Thanh Hoa traffic inspectors reduce the container size of a truck found with a modified cargo box, allowing it to carry more weight.

The Directorate for Roads of Viet Nam inspected 741 of the 2,858 businesses in 36 provinces and cities using dump trucks to transport construction materials and goods. According to the directorate report, the operators of 275 trucks were told to make their containers smaller immediately, while 540 were ordered to remove unauthorised modifications. The rest had their vehicle inspection papers (required for driving) temporarily withheld.

"Strict measures must be taken to regulate container size if the ministry is to succeed in reducing weight violations by trucks," said deputy transport minister Le Dinh Tho.

Overloaded trucks caused extensive damage to infrastructure and polluted the environment, in addition to being traffic hazards, said Nguyen Xuan Cuong, deputy head of the Directorate for Roads of Viet Nam.

In March, citizens of Ky Lam ward in the central province of Quang Nam set up barriers to stop trucks from transporting building materials to a bridge project. The vibrations from the heavily loaded trucks caused substantial damage to houses along the road, destroyed parts of the road and filled the air with dust and noise.

Individual truck owners face fines of US$200-300 while businesses may have to pay up to $900 for violating container size regulations, according to a Government decree.

The directorate also reported cases in which truck owners refused to have their vehicles inspected, while others already had their documents held by the local traffic police, making the inspectors' job difficult.

Some truck owners used the original containers for inspections to avoid being fined, then switched to modified cargo boxes in order to carry more, according to the deputy head.

The directorate proposed that the Viet Nam Register enforce harsher punishments for violators, such as temporary withdrawal of inspection certificates and permanent driving bans.

VNS/VNN