Overloaded vehicles rampant on national highways: Lax management?!

(Baonghean) - Despite public outcry, oversized and overloaded vehicles continue to run rampant on the roads. In reality, there are many signs that the task force is still lax, and even National Highway 7 lacks control...

"Let go" of Highway 7

Arriving at Na Tong village, Tam Thai commune (Tuong Duong), anyone can easily see the scene of "super long, super heavy" wooden trucks "torturing" National Highway 7. These trucks carry 6-7 "giant" wooden trees with a length of about 12-15 m, the diameter of the small ones is enough for 2 people to hug, the large ones are enough for 4-5 people to hug, held by large iron chains. The wooden trees are much longer than the floor and are arranged to overflow the surface of the truck floor. By the naked eye, it is estimated that each truck must carry at least approximately 40m3 of wood. According to some people in Na Tong village who have a farm camp next to a timber yard, the timber yard has been operating for a long time: "The timber trucks "crawl" from Laos through the border gate here, have their "history" done before they can be transported downstream. Sometimes there are two or three trucks, sometimes dozens of trucks, with cranes loading and unloading timber all night. Sometimes there are so many trucks that there is no place to park, the trucks have to turn around and move to another yard...".

A Lao timber yard in Na Tong village, Tam Thai commune, Tuong Duong.

Arriving at the center of Tam Thai commune, we were informed by some knowledgeable people that Na Tong has become a gathering place for timber transit yards from Laos. Most of the vehicles follow the Tam Hop - Tam Thai and Nam Can - Luu Kien routes, then follow National Highway 7 to the yard. "Wood trucks have completely destroyed all those roads, just go in and you will know" - a local confirmed.

As we heard, the two routes Tam Hop - Tam Thai, Nam Can - Luu Kien, although being national defense and security routes, have been severely damaged. The Tam Hop - Tam Thai route, which had been completed with a roadbed and asphalt pavement, and a system of longitudinal and transverse drainage ditches, has now collapsed and sunk almost along the entire route, leaving behind only jagged boulders and deep grooves from the wheel tracks of timber trucks. The Nam Can - Luu Kien route is full of cracks and peeling, many spots have become buffalo and elephant holes. From Xoong Con and Luu Phong villages (Luu Kien commune) to Nam Can, there are completely damaged sections of up to 50 - 70m long.

Trucks carrying Lao timber "hide" in Khe Kien village (Tuong Duong) waiting for dark.

At 2:00 p.m. on July 23, we arrived at Khe Kien village, where three wooden trucks were waiting for the night. Each truck was loaded with large samu trees. The drivers, some went to restaurants to eat and drink, others hung hammocks under the trucks to rest. According to our investigation, most of the trucks carrying wood from Laos were under the management of Ms. Duong Thi Thanh, the owner of a gasoline and transportation business located in Na Tong village. "They only had a few trucks but established a business to "manage" hundreds of trucks transporting Lao wood. All the trucks were broken down and not registered for circulation..." - An official of Tuong Duong district said.

A truck carrying Lao timber travels on Highway 7.

Lao wooden trucks pass Hoa Binh town.

At 8:00 p.m., we were on duty at Thuan Chin restaurant (Hoa Binh town, Tuong Duong), at which time there were 7 large trucks covered with tarpaulins and Laotian license plates. "They are all wooden trucks. They will leave when the town lights are turned off" - a young man who seemed to be knowledgeable told us. More than two hours later, at 10:10 p.m., we witnessed "super-long, super-heavy" trucks tormenting National Highway 7 through Hoa Binh town. First were 3 3-axle tractor-trailers carrying wood that we encountered at Khe Kien village, then 7 Laotian trucks in a row. Dozens of headlights were shining brightly, the roar of the engines resonated with the sound of the wheels grinding on the road surface...

"Loose" all over the line!

We organized a trip along Ho Chi Minh road, over 90 km through Nghe An, there are many large trucks in circulation. Passing Bai Tranh commune (Nhu Xuan district, Thanh Hoa) to Nghia Dan district, right at the gate of TH Milk Company, we encountered a very strange image. A convoy of nearly ten trucks with "huge" sizes, covered with tarpaulins, was slowly moving... backwards. Arriving at a fairly large parking lot, with a few tea shops, the convoy immediately pulled over. A local said that the drivers received information that there were traffic inspectors working ahead, so they temporarily hid in the parking lot, waiting for the convoy to leave before continuing their operation.

Traffic inspectors made a record of violation for vehicle with license plate 37C-012.75 on Ho Chi Minh road.

After traveling more than 1km, at km 643 + 500, there was indeed a mobile traffic inspection team writing a ticket for a tractor-trailer with license plate 37C-012.75 of Hoang Quan Trading Company Limited. This vehicle was transporting wood from Thanh Thuy Border Gate to the North when it was stopped for inspection due to overloading. Talking to an officer who was writing the ticket, we learned that for this violation, the enterprise was fined 6,000,000 VND; the driver was fined 6,000,000 VND and had his driver's license suspended for 60 days. How did you handle the vehicles that were hiding on the side of the road? "We can only handle the vehicles that are in circulation. We know that they are hiding their vehicles in the parking lot to avoid us, but when we arrive, all the drivers leave, so we cannot handle the violation." So is the team on duty here regularly? "We are assigned to many routes, after making a record of this vehicle, we work a little longer and then have to change routes", "Do we know that there are many overloaded vehicles but do not take measures to handle them?", "The Department of Transport has increased the number of mobile patrol teams by 3 but it is still not enough. Handling a vehicle like this takes a lot of time. The fault is obvious, we have explained many times but the driver still does not sign the record. It has been more than an hour. When the driver signs the record, we still have to bring the vehicle back to the parking lot, unload the vehicle... A lot of work.

Overloaded trucks carrying white stone are brazenly circulating on National Highway 1A.

Traveling on most national highways, you can see temporary shelters for oversized and overloaded vehicles everywhere. These are gas stations, motels, restaurants, etc. The most common are on National Highway 1A through Dien Thanh and Dien An communes (Dien Chau), and National Highway 15 through Nam Nghia and Nam Hung communes (Nam Dan). In Dien An commune, water shops also set up hammocks for drivers to rest and wait for the "order" to pass the weigh station. On National Highway 15, in the area near Trang Den Lake (Nam Hung commune), there are many drivers lying on hammocks waiting for dark to "march".

In Quy Hop district, we intercepted a number of Howo trucks (also known as "Tiger trucks") transporting white stone at Chau Quang industrial cluster. This is the type of truck commonly used to transport ore, with a tank up to 2m high. On all of these trucks, white stone was loaded up to the top of the tank. Following them, we saw them all "peacefully" pass through the districts, even past the weighing station to reach the unloading point.

Nam Can - Khe Kien road (end of Luu Phong village) has been damaged.

To determine exactly how much the "Tiger Pounce" trucks carrying white stone had in total, we followed the truck named "Quy Son" with license plate 37C-05488 to Cua Lo Port. At the Port's weighing station, the driver weighed the truck twice, when the truck was loaded and when the truck had finished unloading. Waiting for the driver to leave the weighing station, we asked the staff there to provide us with a weight slip. The slip clearly stated: Weight slip number: 4672; Customer name: Hoang Anh Company; Vehicle license plate: 37C-05488; Type of goods: white stone; Weighing date: 7/24/2014; Total weighing time: 4:09:43 PM; Tare weighing date: 7/24/2014; Tare weighing time: 4:16:56 PM; Total weight: 52,920 (kg); Tare weight: 18,300 (kg); Cargo weight: 34,620 (kg).

According to Circular No. 06/VBHN-BGTVT issued by the Ministry of Transport on February 7, 2014, for a monocoque vehicle with a total of three axles, the total weight of the vehicle must be ≤ 24 tons. Accordingly, the "Tiger" vehicle (a monocoque vehicle with three axles) with license plate 37C-05488 has a total weight exceeding the regulation by 28,920 kg...

The provincial traffic police said that from Km86 National Highway 7 (in the territory of Con Cuong district) and above, the district police are responsible; Regarding the developments on other national highways, this officer said that "The traffic police and the authorities have handled a lot. However, it must be affirmed that it is not thorough, there are still some places here and there...".

In Official Dispatch No. 2770/KHPH-GTVT-CAT dated December 16, 2013 of the Department of Transport - Provincial Police on the plan to patrol, control and handle violations of overloading of freight vehicles on the road, it is emphasized: "Locations for patrolling, controlling and handling violations of overloading: Concentrated at the place of departure or near the area of ​​warehouses, ports, stations, places where goods are gathered onto transport vehicles, especially Cua Lo Port, Ben Thuy Port, Quynh Luu seaport, coal ports, construction material ports, coal mines, mineral areas, cement factories...". However, with what we have witnessed at the timber yards in Tam Thai commune (Tuong Duong), Chau Quang industrial park (Quy Hop), Cua Lo Port weighing station..., especially the exchanges of traffic police officers, the plans proposed by the Department of Transport and the Provincial Police in Official Dispatch No. 2770 have not been seriously implemented.

Not denying the results achieved by the authorities in handling the problem of oversized and overloaded vehicles, but to protect the roads, not to let the State budget bear unreasonable expenses, and especially to protect the safety of people in traffic, such involvement is not enough!.

PV GROUP