Overloaders targeted
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• Drivers of overloaded trucks are more likely to be caught after the Vehicle Inspectorate starts using a sensor detection system which is claimed to be almost twice as effective as traditional methods.
Trials of the weigh-in-motion road sensors (WIMs) at 14 sites over the past four years have proved successful. Out of those trucks stopped 40% were found to be overloaded.
They operate by sending warnings to weighbridges up to lkm away where enforcement officers will pull over the trucks.
However, the Transport Road Research Laboratory admits: "There is still more work needed to make the system more accurate. But there will be no harm done because the trucks will be put on a weighbridge after they've been pulled over."
The Road Haulage Association welcomes the plans to introduce up to 40 WIMs over the next four years: "We have been on at the Vehicle Inspectorate for a long time to target their enforcement with a greater degree of accuracy, so that legitimate operators do not have their time wasted in checks," it says.
The Freight Transport Association agrees: "As long as the WIMs are only going to be used as a filtering system we have no problems with them." Although it warns that WIM inaccuracy can range from 6-16%.