Transport authorities have prevented 31,000 trucks overloaded with goods or passengers from entering highways since early this year. — Photo atgt.vn

HÀ NỘI — Transport authorities have prevented 31,000 trucks overloaded with goods or passengers from entering highways since early this year, the Việt Nam Expressway Service Joint Stock Company has said.

Đỗ Chí Chung, the company’s chief of office, said about 1.8 million vehicles were weighed in the first nine months of this year.

Of the figure, 31,000 vehicles were overloaded with goods or passengers, and 136 vehicles were found to have parked illegally, disobeyed police officers or driven the wrong way down highways.

Chung said the number of violations had fallen by 12 per cent compared to the same period of last year, showing efforts to stop overloaded trucks were working.

Overloaded trucks are the main cause of traffic accidents and damage to road surfaces and other transport infrastructure.

Over the past few years, the Government has instructed ministries and sectors to reinforce supervision of overloaded vehicles nationwide. Automatic weighbridges have been installed at toll stations to stop vehicles from exceeding the load or number of passengers they are permitted to carry.

Chung said vehicles exceeding 10 per cent of their transport capacity or more will be refused entry to highways. The company has also contacted local police to issue fines as regulated to those vehicles.

He said the company would continue to control truckloads around-the-clock to ensure safety and protect traffic infrastructure.

Since early this year, 30.5 million vehicles had used highways under the VEC’s management.

The Cầu Giẽ-Ninh Bình Highway in the north was the busiest with 11.4 million vehicles, followed by HCM City-Long Thành-Dầu Giây with 11 million.

On the Nội Bài-Lào Cai Highway, about 7.4 million vehicles were reported to have used the route. As the longest highway route of the country, the number of vehicles weighed before using the highway accounted for 77 per cent of the total inspected by the company.

The VEC is the investor of the Cầu Giẽ-Ninh Bình, Nội Bài-Lào Cai, Đà Nẵng-Quảng Ngãi and HCM City-Long Thành-Dầu Giây highways with a total length of nearly 500 kilometres.

The Bến Lức-Long Thành highway is under construction and is expected to be completed by 2020, raising the total routes under the company’s management to 550 kilometres, accounting for 65 per cent of highways in the country. – VNS