Transport ministry told to push clampdown on overloading

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on June 25 asked the Ministry of Transport to step up the clampdown on overloading as stricter supervision in the first half of 2014 has resulted in fewer traffic accidents.
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on June 25 asked the Ministry of Transport to step up the clampdown on overloading as stricter supervision in the first half of 2014 has resulted in fewer traffic accidents.

During an online conference in Hanoi reviewing the traffic situation, the National Traffic Safety Committee reported that over 12,800 accidents happened during the period nationwide, killing 4,689 people and injuring 12,000 others, down 2,000 cases, 224 deaths and 2,700 injured people from a year earlier.

Police checked the loading capacity of 103,500 trucks and collected 77 billion VND (over 3.6 million USD) in fines from 24,800 violation cases, heard the function.

Deputy PM Phuc said that such supervision has helped raise transport enterprises’ awareness of observing traffic rules, while speaking highly of provinces which have worked well to deal with the evil.

However, he also pointed out the lax traffic law enforcement and inactive application of new technology in patrol and vehicle examination in some localities.

There occur cases involving people resisting on-duty officers while the registration and management of waterway vessels remain sluggish, he noted.

Asides from underlining the need to tighten the control over overloaded trucks, Phuc asked the ministry to harness other forms of transport to reduce pressure on road infrastructure, and severely punish those who change the original designs of vehicles for the purpose of intentional overloading.

He also ordered the National Road Maintenance Fund to ensure sufficient money for the operation of load capacity checkpoints.

Additionally, the Deputy PM demanded the ministry to promptly replace makeshift bridges with permanent ones, speed up the building of National Highway No.1 and the Ho Chi Minh Road’s sections through the Central Highlands, and work to ensure traffic safety at places under construction.-VNA

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