Court hands down R8000
fine, writes Anna Cox
A NEW partnership designed to stamp out overloading on the N3 Corridor was launched last week.
Called the Overload Control Strategic Partnership, it was signed between the South African National Roads Agency and the Kwa Zulu-Natal Department of Transport.
The aim of this partnership is to focus on overloading on the N3 Corridor comprising the following routes: N3, N11, R33, R74 and R 103.
Gauteng MEC for transport, Khabisi Mosunkutu has vowed that overloading will no longer be tolerated.
Addressing the launch of the Arrive Alive campaign for the festive season last week, he said he was encouraged that the criminal justice system was also gearing itself in support of the department's efforts.
Last week, he said, a driver of a passenger bus was fined
R15 000 or three years in jail for overloading. He was carrying 150 passengers on an 81 capacity bus.
In another incident on November 5 in Laingsburg, law enforcement officials stopped a goods truck weighing 16 000 kgs instead of 9000 kg. This truck also exceeded the legal speed limit of 80km/h. The driver was travelling at 130 km/h.
I am pleased to report that the driver was charged and hauled before court. The magistrate sentenced the driver to a fine of R8 000 and suspended his driving licence for three months. We are determined to bring all traffic offenders to book. Last year damage on road surfaces was estimated at approximately R40 million caused by overloading on the N2 and N3 in Kwa Zulu-Natal alone. The same study's recommendations have conservatively estimated R30 million per annum in cost savings should proper mechanisms be put in place for effective law enforcement and more visible policing on these main routes, he said.
Mosunkutu said the overloading stories were frightening, especially because some of the most respectable companies were the main culprits.
He publicly named the habitual road vandals as:
Sandys, Terblanche Transport, Smalberger, Gerlaine, Freight Factors,
L Potgieter, Grobler, Foka Transport, Tanker Service, Van Niekerk, Westrand Tipper, Macdonalds Transport, MP Pallets, Cargo Sand, Eagle Charalambous, Cargo Carriers, Els Transport, Maritz Vervoer, OTK, Coaltrans, JM Trucking, Interwaste, MNG
Transport, Oosthuizen Vervoer, Windmill Transport, Zero Unlimited, Hento, SA Trucking, Rand Scrap, Tornado Transport, ITC, KGB Hauliers, Hagers, Karee, Truck Africa, Payloads, Unitrans, Otto, Bothma en Seun, Parsons Transport and TJ Potgieter Transport.
Twenty trucks belonging to BVB Transport Company were weighed between September and October this year and all 20 were found to be overloaded by 100%. Out of 25 Payload trucks weighed, 24 were found to be overloaded by 96%. KGB Hauliers had 15 of its trucks weighed and 14 of these were overloaded by 93%.
The minister said he would continue to publish lists of overloaders.
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