OVERLOADED ARTICULATED TRUCKS IMPOUNDED (BACK PAGE)

The Tema Axle Load Control Unit on Monday night impounded 40 articulated trucks and arrested their drivers on the Accra-Tema Motorway for loading beyond the permissible limit.
For some of the vehicles impounded, the excess load was about 68 kg beyond the permissible limit.
The drivers were to be put before court for overloading, causing damage to the road network and exposing other road users to imminent danger.
The trucks, which were on their way to Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, Kumasi and Tamale, were loaded with cement, rice, cocoa, iron rods and other goods.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic on the Motorway yesterday morning, the Chief Executive Officer of the unit, Mr Albert Owusu Ansah, said all the 40 drivers were arrested in one night’s operation and said the unit would step up the exercise to ensure safety and sanity on the road.
He explained that the weighing scale on the Motorway broke down and the unit had to wait for two months to take delivery of some imported parts, which allowed the drivers to take the law into their own hands during the period.
Mr Owusu Ansah said now that the weigh bridge was working, the unit would ensure that drivers complied with axle load limits.
He said some drivers were guilty of alcoholism, drug abuse, use of bad language and rudeness when they were arrested and appealed for support from the police to help check those truck drivers because most of the time they resisted arrest.
He expressed worry that some articulated truck drivers, including those in transit, used unapproved routes and created more problems for drivers of smaller vehicles.
Mr Owusu Ansah called on the drivers to desist from the practice and appealed to the police to redirect those trucks back onto the approved routes.
He also called on the Ghana Port authorities and production companies to ensure that vehicles were loaded up to the permissible limit before they left the ports and factory premises to avoid arrest.
He urged the various transport associations which oversaw the activities of truck drivers to organise refresher courses on enforcement to equip the drivers with the laws on the use of the road.
He suggested that the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority(DVLA) should consider the experience of drivers applying for licences to drive such category of trucks because of the nature of the work and the distances they covered.
At the time of the interview, the trucks were parked in the yard of the Axle Unit along the Motorway, while a police officer was busily taking down the particulars of the drivers to process them for court.