The Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) has taken decisive action to address truck overloading through the introduction of an axle load control programme.
The move – which follows a one-day sensitisation workshop in Kumasi earlier this week involving all stakeholders – aims to ensure that all vehicles on Ghana’s roads fall within the prescribed permissible axle load, gross weight and dimension limits under the road traffic regulations.
Representatives from the GHA, Ministry of Roads and Highways, Motor Transport and Traffic Directorate of the Ghana Police and the Haulage and Transport Association attended the seminar.
Samuel Antobam, the coordinator of the programme, said overloaded vehicles caused excessive damage to the road and drainage structures and impeded the safety of traffic in general.
He believes implementation will reduce safety hazards imposed by overloaded trucks as well as road traffic crashes and further improve freight transport efficiency.
“Travel time on the roads will significantly improve since congestion on the road due to slow-moving overloaded trucks will be eliminated.”
Abdullah Billey, director of the Road Safety and Environment Division of GHA, said there would be strict enforcement of the regulations, adding that penalties would apply and offenders would be required to offload the excess load.
He said plans were under way to train and deploy workers of the GHA and the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority to check overloading at the point of loading.
- The Ghana Highway Authority, GhanaWeb