Painful overload
Page 14
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Fines for overloading in Pennsylvania, USA, really hurt.
The average excess on 147 overweight lorries stopped on the road was about 7,000lb and the average fine was $1,300.
The state allows a maximum of 73,280Ib gross ex cept by special permit. The fine for the first 3,000lb of overload is $150 with an other $150 for each additional 5001b. If the fine is not paid within 24 hours the vehicle is impounded.
A dragline used in opencast mining weighed 169,000lb and the operator had to find $28,000 overnight. Most of the largest fines relate to the haulage of heavy construction and mining equipment without a permit. A crane used in mining, for instance, attracted a penalty of about $23,000.
Refusal to be weighed costs $100. A second refusal produces another $100 ticket, and so on, at $100 a time, until the driver eventually agrees.
Imagine the outcry from the Road Haulage Associa tion and the Freight Transport Association if penalties on this scale were exacted in Britain, especially when loading points had no weighbridges and drivers had to guess gross weights. Spot fines of over £800 for 3-ton overloads on 32-ton-gross artics would soon dispose of the cowboys but would put many unimpeachable small hauliers out of business, too.